Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
The 2008 Farm Bill created the new Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), a competitive grant program that provides grants for fundamental and applied research, extension, and education to address food and agricultural issues. AFRI takes the place of both the National Research Initiative (NRI), authorized in 1990, and the Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems (IFAFS), authorized in 1998.
The overarching grant categories established in the farm bill include:
- Plant health and production and plant products;
- Animal health and production and animal products;
- Food safety, nutrition, and health;
- Renewable energy, natural resources, and environment;
- Agriculture systems and technology; and
- Agriculture economics and rural communities.
USDA significantly changed AFRI in 2010, creating seven general grant categories: foundational program, five “societal challenge” categories (climate change, global food security, childhood obesity prevention, bioenergy, and food safety), and pre- and post-doctoral fellowships.
State agricultural experiment stations, colleges and universities, university research foundations, other research institutions and organizations, Federal agencies, national laboratories, private organizations or corporations, and individuals are eligible to apply for grants under the program.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition was successful in getting language into the Manager’s Statement of the 2008 Farm Bill that encourages appropriators to increase funding for the program, and maintaining priorities within AFRI for small and medium-sized family farms and for agro-ecosystems and sustainable systems.