The Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation has announced first-quarter grants totaling $20.4 million.

Through its Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), the foundation awarded $300,000 over three years to the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) in Uganda to help improve local diets and provide support to a farmer-led research network that is working to identify and scale locally appropriate technology options for smallholder farmers. CCRP supports agroecological systems research in ten countries in Africa and South America, where persistent poverty and food insecurity have created "hunger hot spots."

"We are proud of our partners and their progress in creating equitable and ecological solutions for farmers and food systems globally," said McKnight board chair Debby Landesman. "They are innovating in ways that improve technical and social systems in farming communities, and that raises these communities' potential to mitigate climate change while building resilience."

Additional Q1 grant recipients include the Alliance for Climate Action ($400,000), the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota ($650,000), and RENEW Wisconsin ($450,000), all of which received general operating support grants; the Partnership Project, which was awarded $500,000 to help strengthen the public engagement efforts of climate advocates; and the Initiative Foundation, which was awarded a $3 million general operating support grant through the foundation's Minnesota Initiative Foundations/Rural category.