The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is USDA’s flagship competitive grant program that provides funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences.
Donor Name: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/06/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 5 Years
Details:
The purpose of AFRI is to invest in research, education, and extension work by awarding grants to solve key problems of local, regional, national, and global importance in sustaining conventional, organic, and urban agricultural systems. The projects supported by AFRI address topics such as farm/ranch production efficiency, profitability and sustainability; bioenergy and bio-based products; forestry; aquaculture; rural communities and entrepreneurship; human nutrition; biotic and abiotic constraints on food production; food safety; reducing food waste and food loss; physical and social sciences; family and consumer sciences and rural human ecology; development of circular economies, and genetic improvement of plants and animals. Through this support, AFRI advances knowledge in both fundamental and applied sciences important to agriculture and forestry. Additionally, AFRI supports work in education and extension activities that deliver science-based knowledge to end users, allowing them to make informed, practical decisions. The AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) RFA provides funding for integrated research, education, and extension projects.
The SAS program area will fund projects that significantly advance previously established foundational and applied sciences for the following USDA priority outcomes:
- Food and Nutrition Security: Enhance the contributions of food and agriculture to improve the health of the nation through resilient local and regional food systems, adoption, and application of new or existing technologies, tools, education, and other resources to ensure all Americans have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, affordable foods essential to optional health and well-being.
- Strengthening the Bioeconomy: Develop sources of clean energy and high-value biobased products from agricultural and forestry feedstocks to foster economic development and prosperity, with an emphasis toward generating benefits to underserved communities.
- Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF): Improve mitigation, adaptation, and resilience of agricultural and forestry production systems to climate change.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $80,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $10,000,000
- Award Floor: $50,000
Project Period
Grant Duration: Up to 60 Months
Eligibility Criteria
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.
Integrated Projects Eligible applicants for Integrated Projects include:
- colleges and universities;
- 1994 Land-Grant Institutions; and
- Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
