Special Edition SCOAR Bulletin |
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January 28, 2010 |
SCOAR is a collaboration of producers and scientists whose mission is to plan and promote research and information exchange for understanding and improving organic agricultural systems.
USDA Research Grant Opportunities Emerge
Key Research Initiatives Put $800 Million in Play
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will release requests for applications for up to $800 million of grant funds through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative by mid-February, 2010.
NIFA grants represent an opportunity for organic researchers to tap research funds beyond the existing federal programs for organic research, which have been heavily oversubscribed. For example in 2009, the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative received $134 million in proposals yet only had $18 million in funding available.
The 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is NIFA’s largest competitive research grants program. AFRI’s program areas indicate that there is plenty of room for organic-related projects. These program areas are:
- plant health, production, and plant products
- animal health, production, and animal products
- food safety, nutrition, and health
- renewable energy, natural resources, and environment
- agriculture systems and technology
- agricultural economics and rural communities.
Within these program areas, AFRI will support interdisciplinary, multi-functional projects in the following five priority, “societal challenge” areas:
- Keep American agriculture competitive while ending world hunger
- Improve nutrition and end child obesity
- Radically improve food safety for all Americans
- Secure America’s energy future through renewable biofuels
- Mitigate and adapt agriculture to variations in climate
NIFA will issue a series of requests for applications to address these priorities. Grants in 2010 will offer funding of up to $25 million and for a duration of up to five years.
In addition, up to $5 million in funding opportunities for pre- and postdoctoral fellowship grants will be offered. This program area will create a cadre of “NIFA Fellows” poised to become the next generation of agricultural scientists, educators and practitioners.
Application requirements for the different program areas will vary, with some requiring letters of intent. OFRF will send out special SCOAR bulletins announcing release of the funding opportunities as soon as they are issued by USDA.
Whether or not you decide to apply for AFRI funds, please consider serving on one of AFRI's grant review panels. For more information about serving on review panels, contact Ariane Lotti, Policy Associate for OFRF and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, email ariane@ofrf.org.
For more information about the AFRI funding opportunity, visit the NIFA web site at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/afri/afri.html.
View the original AFRI press release on these grants at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/newsroom/news/2010news/01062_afri.html
This is a Special Edition in a series of occasional bulletins providing selected information on organic research programs, positions, funding, and reports, as well as news about SCOAR itself. Original items may be reproduced with attribution to OFRF. These reports are sent via email to registered SCOAR participants. For previous bulletins, registration and other information about SCOAR, see http://ofrf.org/networks/scoar.html
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