Agriculture & Food Research Initiative

Program Basics

The 2008 Farm Bill created the new Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), a competitive grant program that will provide 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.  AFRI reflects many of the same purposes as the two predecessor programs.

The overarching grant categories include:

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 maximum term of a grant is 10 years, but normally grants are for fewer than 5 years.  Matching funds are required in certain limited cases.  Reimbursement for indirect costs is limited to not greater than 22 percent of the grant total.  Indirect costs may also be counted as matching grants, provided that the combined total of reimbursements for indirect costs and indirect costs used for the match does not exceed 22 percent.

2008 Farm Bill Changes

The 2008 Farm Bill added five new grant categories to those that already existed under either the NRI or IFAFS:

The priority grant category for the viability and competitiveness of small and medium sized family farm operations was carried over from IFAFS. Carried over from NRI is the requirement that all grant categories should emphasize sustainable agriculture wherever applicable. The new farm bill lengthens the maximum grant term from 5 years to 10 years to accommodate in particular classical plant and animal breeding projects and long-term agro-ecological systems research.

Section 7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (FCEA) of 2008 amends Subsection 450(b) of the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act of 196, to be codified at 7 U.S.C. Section 450i(b) and a note to 7 U.S.C. Section 450i.

In addition, conforming amendments are made to Section 1473 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, to be codified at 7 U.S.C. Section 3319; Section 1671(d) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, as codified at 7 U.S.C. Section 5924(d); and Section 1672B(b) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, to be codified at 7 U.S.C. Section 5925b(b).

Funding

AFRI has an authorization for appropriations of up to $700 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2012. In recent years, the annual agricultural appropriation passed by Congress has provided about $200 million for NRI/IFAFS combined. Whether and how fast that total funding level increases will be a matter for the annual agricultural appropriations bills to determine.

Under the new law, 60 percent of the funds for projects that include research will be directed toward grants for fundamental (or basic) research, and 40 percent toward applied research. Of the AFRI funds allocated to fundamental research, not less than 30 percent will be directed toward research by multidisciplinary teams.

In addition, of the total amount appropriated for AFRI, at least 30 percent is to be used for “integrated” projects that combine research and education, research and extension, education and extension, or all three.

Implementation Basics

The AFRI program will be administered by the new National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA; formerly, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service) of USDA. Each year NIFA will release a Request for Applications (RFA) which is available on their website (www.nifa.usda.gov), on www.grants.gov, and through the Federal Register (www.archives.gov/federal-register/).

The RFA lists all of the national program areas, and, within each national program, specific 5-year and annual priority areas. The RFA also designates certain national programs or aspects of national programs as research-only, education-only, extension-only, or “integrated” (i.e., projects which combine research, education and extension). There may be as many as 30-40 national programs in total. The RFA lists the due dates for letters of intent and proposals under each of the national programs, which vary, and indicates the approximate amount of total funding that is available for each national program. Proposals are reviewed and ranked for merit and relevance by peer review committees, with top ranked proposals selected for funding.  The full RFA is available online.

A six month public comment period on the RFA is triggered when the RFA is released. During the comment period, recommendations for priority topics for the following year’s RFA may be submitted to NIFA by individuals and organizations.

Grant programs of interest within AFRI to individuals and organizations interested in sustainable agriculture include, but are not limited to, the following:

* Agribusiness Markets and Trade

* Agricultureal Prosperity for Small and Medium-sized Farms

* Animal Genome, Genetics, and Breeding

* Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agicultural Lands

* Food Safety and Epidemiology: Practical Approaches for Food Protection

* Global and Climate Change

* Managed Ecosystems

* Plant Biology: Environmental Stress

* Plant Breeding and Education

* Plant Genome, Genetics, and Breeding

* Rural Development

* Soil Processes

* Sustainable Agroecosystems Science and Long-term Agroecosystem Program

* Water and Watersheds

The complete list of grant programs within AFRI, deadlines, and contact information for program leaders is available online.

NIFA has issued an interim final rule with general administrative rules that apply to all NIFA competitive grants programs, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-17594.pdf.  An AFRI-specific subpart within this interim final rule is under development and should be published in the Federal Register for public comment by the summer.

Examples of Past Grant Recipients

Although AFRI was newly authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, the program, which combines the old National Research Initiative and the Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems, will provide similar grants to these past programs. Therefore, we have included selected past grants from NRI and IFAFS as examples of possible AFRI grants.

Managed Ecosystems

The University of Wisconsin-Madison received a $494,000 National Research Initiative grant in 2007 under the NRI Managed Ecosystems program to identify nutrient management practices that maximize grower returns and environmental efficiency for organic production of processing snap beans and sweet corn. Funded as an integrated research project, the researchers also plan to inform and train growers, processors, students, extension educators, and ag professionals on the economic and environment impacts of organic snap bean and sweet corn production.

Agricultural Prosperity for Small and Medium-Sized Farms

In 2006, the University of California-Davis received a $400,000 grant under the NRI Agricultural Prosperity for Small and Medium-Sized Farms program to assess the potential for profit in institutional markets for small and medium-sized farmers, and to determine if institutional markets can increase the use of environmentally sound production practices. Once the findings are complete, the researchers will recommend, through outreach activities including technical assistance, ‘best practices’ that will improve the market access and profitability of small and medium-sized producers.

In 2007, the University of Vermont and partners received a $468,000 grant for research, outreach and classroom education on farmland access and tenure for new farmers, farm succession challenges, and the impacts of tenure and succession arrangements on land use and the environment.

Farm Efficiency and Profitability

Fort Valley State University in Georgia received a $1.8 million grant in 2001, under the IFAFS Farm Efficiency and Profitability program to improve the profitability for small and minority farmers and farm related businesses located in the persistently poor, Black Belt Region in eight southern states.

USDA Contact Information

The current website for the NRI is www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/nri/nir.html. This site contains much of the same information that will eventually be available on the new AFRI page.

Deborah Sheely, Deputy Administrator, Competitive Programs, dsheely@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-5024

Each AFRI national program area has its own program leader. The program leaders and their contact information will be available in each year’s RFA. Below is contact information for selected national programs:

The contact for the Managed Ecosystems, Enhancing Ecosystem Services, and Plant Biology: Environmental Stress programs is Diana Jerkins, djerkins@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-6996.

The contact for the Markets and Trade, Small and Medium Sized Farm Prosperity, and Rural Development programs is Siva Sureshwaran, ssureshwaran@csrees.usda.gov, 202-720-7536.

The contact for the Water and Watersheds program is Mary Ann Rozum, mrozum@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-4533.

The contact for the Food Safety, Global Change, and Soil Processes programs is Nancy Cavallaro, ncavallaro@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-5176.

The contact for the Animal Genome, Genetics, and Breeding program is Peter Burfening, pburfening@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-5823.

The contact for the Plant Genome, Genetics, and Breeding program is Ed Kaleikau, ekaleikau@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-1931.

The contact for the Sustainable Agroecosystems Science program is Michael Bowers, mbowers@csrees.usda.gov, 202-401-4510.