EMERYVILLE, CALIF. — Clif Bar & Co. has announced that it will present a $1 million endowment to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to further more the examine and advancement of organic and natural agriculture. The endowment will particularly aid the perform of Erin Silva, PhD, a professor at the university’s Higher education of Agriculture and Everyday living Sciences and qualified in organic agricultural investigate. A matching possibility for endowed professorships from UW-Madison alumni John and Tashia Morgridge will enhance the present to $2 million.
“Public/non-public collaborations are essential to travel innovation in agriculture,” mentioned Kate VandenBosch, dean of UW-Madison CALS. “Funding from Clif Bar provides the flexibility for a proficient, artistic professor like Dr. Silva to prolong her do the job to larger audiences. This generous reward will permit Erin to maximize the number of farmers she functions with and increase the amount of present learners who can study far more deeply about natural agriculture.”
Considering that 2015, Clif Bar has been building once-a-year endowment items to land-grant establishments in an hard work to broaden natural and organic agriculture investigation. The UW-Madison also acquired the initial Clif Bar grant, awarded to concentration especially on organic and natural corn breeding.
Far more than 80% of the substances employed in Clif Bar products are organic and natural or certified sustainable, according to the company, and due to the fact 2003 Clif Bar has ordered additional than 1 billion lbs of organic and natural elements.
“Clif Bar has been committed to investing in natural for practically 20 yrs for the reason that we identify the benefits for folks, communities and the earth,” reported Sarah Beaubien, senior director of sustainability impact at Clif Bar. “With agricultural investigate acquiring significantly less than 1% of public funding, this endowment software is intended to fund the very best and brightest minds to assistance drive the organics industry ahead and satisfy the developing shopper demand for natural meals.”