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Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Sustainable Agricultural Systems

ID: USDA-NIFA-AFRI-011335 • Type: Posted

Description

Applications to the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach for projects are expected to significantly improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible agricultural products, while fostering economic development and rural prosperity in America. These approaches must demonstrate current needs and anticipate future social, cultural, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed should result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for all those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption. See AFRI SAS RFA for details.

Background
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) is a competitive grant program administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The mission of this initiative is to promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system, focusing on systems approaches that improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible agricultural products while fostering economic development and rural prosperity. The program aims to address current needs and anticipate future impacts across social, cultural, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental dimensions.

Grant Details
The AFRI SAS RFA solicits proposals for Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) and Strengthening Coordinated Agricultural Project (Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement - FASE) Grants. Projects must focus on systems approaches that significantly improve climate-smart, sustainable food production while enhancing rural prosperity.

Key components include:
1) Sustainability: Projects must demonstrate long-term sustainability in meeting human food needs while enhancing environmental quality.
2) Full Integration: Proposals should integrate research, education, and extension activities to address challenges in food systems.
3) Systems Approach: Applications must present a clear scope of chosen systems and associated problems to be addressed through research, extension, and education.
4) Transdisciplinary: Projects should engage diverse stakeholders throughout their implementation.
5) Workforce Integration: Educational activities must enhance workforce skills for sustainable agriculture.
6) Metrics: Meaningful performance metrics must be employed to measure progress toward long-term goals.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include individuals or institutions from underserved communities as well as those with experience in agricultural sciences. Collaboration with international partners is allowed but applications must demonstrate benefits to the U.S. Applicants are encouraged to engage diverse communities in their projects.

Period of Performance
Grants will be issued for a period of up to 60 months.

Grant Value
The total anticipated funding for this program is approximately $70 million, with individual awards ranging from $2.5 million to $10 million.

Place of Performance
The grant activities are expected to take place within the United States.

Overview

Category of Funding
Agriculture
Funding Instruments
Grant
Grant Category
Discretionary
Cost Sharing / Matching Requirement
True
Source
On 1/17/25 the National Institute of Food and Agriculture posted grant opportunity USDA-NIFA-AFRI-011335 for Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Sustainable Agricultural Systems with funding of $70.0 million. The grant will be issued under grant program 10.310 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

Timing

Posted Date
Jan. 17, 2025, 12:00 a.m. EST
Closing Date
May 15, 2025, 12:00 a.m. EDT Due in 19 Days
Last Updated
Jan. 17, 2025, 8:07 a.m. EST
Version
1
Archive Date
June 14, 2025

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants
Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Additional Info
A. Eligibility Requirements Applicants for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) RFA must meet all the requirements discussed in this RFA. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or, preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s Grants Overview provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process. 1. Integrated Projects Eligible applicants for Integrated Projects include: a) Colleges and universities; b) 1994 Land-Grant Institutions; and c) Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (see NIFA's Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities page). For item a) under Integrated Projects, the terms "college" and "university" means an educational institution in the United States that: i) admits as regular students only persons having a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; ii) is legally authorized to provide a program of education beyond secondary education; iii) provides an educational program for which a bachelor’s degree or any other higher degree is awarded; iv) is a public or other nonprofit institution; and v) is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association. A research foundation maintained by a college or university is eligible to receive an award under this program. 2. Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement Grants Part II § C.2 of this RFA contains the eligibility details for Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants. Note that under FASE program, Strengthening Coordinated Agricultural Project and Strengthening Standard Grants are solicited in this RFA. Applicants must respond to the program area priorities and deadlines found in Part I § C of this RFA. Grant recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration or, even though an application may be reviewed, will preclude NIFA from making an award (see Part III § B). Duplicate or Multiple Submissions – submission of duplicate or predominantly overlapping applications is not allowed. NIFA will disqualify both applications if an applicant submits multiple applications that are duplicative or substantially overlapping to NIFA programs within the same fiscal year. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s Grants Overview provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process. B. Request for Determination of Status 1. Minority–Serving Institution If an institution is applying for a Strengthening Grant (see Part II § C. 2) and wants the Secretary to consider a group, beyond one included in the minority definition (See Appendix III, then documentation (see below) must be submitted as part of the requestor’s full application package (Part IV. C.) by the applicable program area or program area priority deadline. The Secretary of Agriculture (or designated individual) will use the information in the documentation to determine whether the group or groups identified are qualified as a minority group for the purpose of receiving a Strengthening Grant under the FASE program (for Strengthening Grants information, refer to the AFRI RFA Resources page, “AFRI Grant Types” in the attachments list). Documentation for the request for determination as a minority-serving institution must include the following and be provided in the order specified below: a) A description of each minority group being submitted for determination; b) Data or studies supporting this group’s designation

Award Sizing

Ceiling
$10,000,000
Floor
$2,500,000
Estimated Program Funding
$70,000,000
Estimated Number of Grants
Not Listed

Contacts

Contact
Joseph Perez Program Analyst
Email Description
If you have questions about preparing application content, contact grantapplicationquestions@usda.gov
Contact Phone
(202) 445-5402
Additional Information
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Documents

Posted documents for USDA-NIFA-AFRI-011335

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