UC Davis and USAID Launch New Research Program to Study Rural Poverty Worldwide

The University of California, Davis, will lead a new global research program to build and test ways to overcome some of the biggest remaining challenges for lifting and keeping rural families out of poverty in developing countries.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience, or MRR, established with a five-year USAID grant of up to $30 million, will study the root causes of poverty and food insecurity with an emphasis on risk from disasters like drought, flood or conflict. The research will help U.S. investments in development to have a lasting impact despite these recurring risks.