Invest in YCEDA

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The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) is a pioneering collaboration between the University of Arizona and the Agriculture Industry. YCEDA is an investor-funded and industry-focused research and innovation center. This unique structure and collaboration leverage private funding and guidance to drive applied research by bringing together industry and world-class scientists, offering resources, infrastructure, partnerships, and support for developing solutions and innovation. 

Why Invest in YCEDA? 

Collaboration and innovation are critical to our effectiveness. With your help, we will continue to leverage tax advantage research investment funds to engage top researchers, initiate projects to tackle challenges faced by the agriculture industry, advance innovation, and provide usable results that will improve production efficiencies and maximize yields, reducing food security challenges. Together, we can find solutions to desert agriculture's pressing problems!
 

With Industry and University Support We Have:

  • Built a Center of Excellence with a stellar reputation

  • Helped make Yuma the most connected Ag region in the world through broadband projects

  • Established a one health laboratory with advanced capabilities

  • Leveraged donations to bring in over $7M in grant funding

  • Awarded over $140,000 of research seed funding. 

  • Facilitated research and educational outreach addressing high-priority issues identified by industry 

Usable Results Include: 

  • A robust dataset from a seven-year irrigation project measuring crop water use and soil salinity for major desert crops that is a resource for future management decisions and is being used to develop DesertAgWISE, an irrigation and soil salinity management tool to assist growers with optimization of irrigation. 

  • Nine years of data from Fusarium wilt of lettuce trials have helped growers make planting decisions, and breeders select the most tolerant breeding lines to advance the development of new lettuce cultivars for the industry.

  • Data from wastewater used to detect human pathogens to mitigate disease spread, and advert outbreaks in Yuma communities.

  • The Yuma County Broadband Middle Mile Project collaboration, including towers throughout Yuma agriculture land, and the Yuma Experiment Station AgTech test and demonstration site.

Investor Levels:  

We ask you to invest in YCEDA to address the grand challenges that significantly impact food production's sustainability and food security. 
 

Ag Visionary: above $25,000 

Ag Champion: $25,000

Ag Leader: $10,000

Ag Partner: $2,000

Ag Young Leader: $1,000

 

Funds are accepted by and administered through the University of Arizona Foundation, a 501(c)(3) U.S. tax-exempt organization. To become a YCEDA Investor, contact Dr. Tanya Hodges, Executive Director, at 928-271-9560 or thodges@arizona.edu, or Alex Strong at amstrong@arizona.edu.

 

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