- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
NIFA has announced $1.35 million to Support Data-Driven Farm Management Practices. The funding will provide agricultural producers with training and data to strengthen their business management skills.
The initiative seeks to:
- Maintain and expand the already established national, publicly available farm financial management database to support improved farm management for producers of a variety of crops and livestock throughout multiple regions of the United States.
- Establish or expand collaborative farm management and producer association partnerships with the existing national farm financial management and benchmarking database to improve the farm management knowledge and skills of agricultural producers.
The deadline for applications is April 17, 2017.
NIFA has announced $2.9 million in available funding for projects that make extension programs and resources more accessible to Native American communities. Funding is made through NIFA's Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP).The Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program supports the development of community-based programs and activities that deliver science-based, traditional and culturally appropriate knowledge. Proposed programs show the value of informed outreach to identified tribes and align with tribal needs. Extension projects may include tribal youth and 4-H, Indian farmer and rancher productivity and management, economic workforce development, food systems and community food markets, natural resource conservation and human nutrition and reduction of childhood and adolescent obesity.
The deadline for applications is April 26, 2017.
NIFA has announced $11 Million to Support Specialty Crop Pest Management. “The IR-4 funding allows NIFA to ensure that new, robust crop protection products are created,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “These investments will lead to improved practices and profits for specialty crop producers.” The IR-4 program supports the creation of safe, effective, and economical pest management solutions for specialty crops and minor agricultural uses on other crops. Specialty crops are defined as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and nursery crops (including floriculture).
The deadline for applications is May 1, 2017.
NIFA has announced $34 million in available funding for projects that promote sustainable water use for food production, processing, and other competing uses. The long term goal of the AFRI Water for Food Production Systems Challenge Area (WFPS) is to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and availability of safe and nutritious food while significantly reducing water use and preserving water quality. For Fiscal Year 2017, NIFA's WFPS RFA invites applications that employ systems approaches, which may lead to solutions for water challenges in U.S. agricultural production. These solutions must be feasible and reflect a broad range of considerations: agricultural producers, other competing industries, consumers and the communities where they live, and other stakeholders. Potential impacts may include changes in economic, environmental, behavioral, social, and policy approaches that lead to reduced water use, and increased water use efficiency for the next several decades and beyond.
The deadline for Letters of Intent is May 17, 2017.
NIFA has announced $11 Million to Support Antimicrobial Resistance Research projects that mitigate antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a growing public health issue that affects more than 2 million people annually. The AFRI Food Safety Challenge Area supports integrated research, education, and extension projects that address food safety challenges. The program seeks to empower transdisciplinary teams to develop, refine, and disseminate science-based knowledge about food and agricultural management and production practices that can reduce or eliminate the risk of AMR. The RFA also supports developing the knowledge, skills, and abilities of both current and future food scientists and members of the food safety workforce.
The deadline for applications is June 21, 2017.
If you are interested in applying to these opportunities, please contact the Office of Contracts and Grants to request proposal development assistance. Please see the OCG Calendar for an overview of each opportunity.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
UCRI is pleased to release the Program Announcement for the 2018 Laboratory Fees Research Program funding opportunities. The UC Laboratory Fees Research Program enhances partnerships between UC researchers and laboratory scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Awards from this program promote the development of projects and collaborations that advance the missions of the national laboratories and UC.
Targeted UC Multicampus-National Lab Collaborative Research and Training (UC-NL CRT) will provide awards in one of three key strategic areas (total anticipated funding available for all awards in this opportunity: up to $15 million over 3 years). This targeted one-time opportunity is intended to spur novel collaborations in topics of strategic scientific and national security importance that will position UC and its national laboratory partners as leaders in three critical areas:
- Climate science: Interdisciplinary research aimed at improving understanding of climate change and the effects of extreme weather events on complex systems, including related environmental, social, economic, and infrastructure impacts, through advances in theory, modeling, methodology, and computation, and innovative approaches to measurements.
- Cybersecurity: Multidisciplinary research aimed at advancing the security of information and critical network infrastructure through theoretical, applied, and computational approaches, including research on cyber-physical systems; data science at scale; hardware, software, and user-based solutions for cyber-defense; quantum computation; analyses of economic and technological risks; and other approaches.
- National security through social sciences: Interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research in the social sciences, arts and/or humanities, including through the application of computational sciences and exploration of immersive visualization, large data sets, or complex networks, that advances scholarship and investigates solutions to national security challenges. Research scope may address peace and conflict studies; nuclear proliferation and WMDs; the implications of economic, social and political movements or system failures; terrorism; forensics; catastrophic events; and other topics related to the laboratories' missions.
Project leadership is constituted by a Lead (Applicant) Principal Investigator from a UC campus. Each collaborating institution (UC campus or national lab) must identify one (and only one) site lead/Co-Principal Investigator. Each proposal must include a minimum of four collaborating UC campuses (including the host campus), and either Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory or Los Alamos National Laboratory. Proposals may also include both national labs, additional UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or other UC systemwide research entities. Examples of other systemwide collaborators include researchers from the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Agricultural Research Stations, the UC Natural Reserve System, any of the five UC medical centers, and the Hastings School of Law. Letters of Intent are due Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 12:00 noon PST. Invited full proposals are due on Thursday, July 27.
In conjunction with the Laboratory Fees Research Program, the UC campus Vice Chancellors for Research are organizing one thematic workshop in each of the three areas targeted by the UC-NL Collaborative Research and Training Awards. Interested researchers who would like information about a specific workshop may request it here: http://bit.ly/labfee-wkshp
Topic: National Security through Social Sciences
Dates: May 8-9, 2017
Location: UC Irvine Student Center
Campus Contact: Stephanie Beckham (Stephanie.Beckham@uci.edu)
Topic: Cybersecurity
Date: May 11, 2017
Location: UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Campus – 3175 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara
Campus Contact: Tedd Siegel (tssiegel@ucsc.edu)
Topic: Climate Science
Dates: May 30-31, 2017
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational Program: Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (AFRI-CARE) is designed to support research and Extension efforts that quickly yield solutions for critical programs that impede the efficient production of agriculturally-important plants and animals that can be rapidly implemented by producers. Despite prior investments in basic and applied research, critical problems continue to impede the efficient production and protection of agriculturally-important plants and animals. These problems may be local, regional or national; often call for work in one or more scientific disciplines; and need immediate attention to meet producer needs. Finding solutions to these critical problems requires partnership and close coordination among researchers, extension experts, and producers.
The CARE Program Area addresses the following priorities of the 2014 Farm Bill: A. Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; B. Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; C. Food Safety, Nutrition and Health; D. Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment; E. Agriculture, Systems and Technology; and F. Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities.
The application deadline will be summer-fall of 2017. Roughly $3 million will be available to fund proposals with an estimated capacity of $300,000 for up to 3 years.
For additional information, please attend the AFRI-CARE webinar scheduled on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. You may register at: http://nifa-connect.nifa.usda.gov/afri-care/
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) requests proposals for collaborative and interdisciplinary team-based research projects. SESYNC is a synthesis research center that brings together diverse groups in new, interdisciplinary collaborations to identify solutions to society's most challenging and complex environmental problems. Proposals are invited for synthesis projects focused on tools, methods, and other practices applicable to actionable team research on socio-environmental problems.
SESYNC invites proposals for collaborative team-based research (Pursuits) that synthesize existing data, methods, theories, and tools to address a pressing socio-environmental problem. Researchers are encouraged to develop research questions and methods that can be applicable across multiple places and scales and have the potential to inform decision makers. We are particularly interested in novel, actionable synthesis efforts that employ synthesis methodologies in new ways. Projects that bring together quantitative and qualitative data and knowledge are of special interest. Please note that proposals do not need to fall within one of SESYNC's previous Themes or the two new Themes described below. Applicants are encouraged to examine existing SESYNC funded Pursuits for examples of successful proposals.
SESYNC encourages proposals that focus on multiple aspects of socio-environmental systems. Teams should be comprised of no more than 15 members who will meet at our Center in Annapolis for 2–4 meetings of approximately 3–5 days over a period of 1–2 years. The composition and number of participants in a Pursuit will vary depending upon the nature of the research problem and the expertise needed to address it. Teams should be highly interdisciplinary (natural and social scientists), and we encourage the inclusion of individuals from outside of academia (i.e., governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, the business sector). Projects co-developed by academic researchers and non-academic knowledge users (from the NGO, private, and government sectors) are encouraged. SESYNC places priority on teams whose members have not had extensive prior collaborations with one another.
- Environmental Dynamics and Food Systems. We encourage the submission of proposals for projects that synthesize diverse data sources and/or develop models and scenarios that reflect the intersection of food system activities with ecological and/or broader socio-environmental systems. Ideally, studies will seek to identify the mechanisms that link the ecological and social dimensions of one or more activities within the food system, or those that link the food system to other (e.g. water or energy) systems. Inquiries regarding this Theme can be directed to Dr. Kristal Jones at kjones@sesync.org.
- Sudden or Unexpected Events: Environmental Recovery, Reorganization or Restoration. We encourage the submission of proposals for projects that synthesize data, develop and apply models, or couple quantitative and qualitative information in new ways to identify the mechanisms that lead to different ecological or socio-environmental responses to discrete events, which could have long-lasting environmental impacts.
Teams applying for one of these two Themes should be comprised of no more than 10 participants, including team leads. Projects under each Theme listed above may synthesize existing data, methods, theories, and tools to address the socio-environmental problem described. Researchers are encouraged to develop research questions and methods for results that can be applicable across multiple places and scales, and that either improve the sustainability and efficiency of food systems or inform the development of solutions to improve responses to unexpected environmental change. We are particularly interested in novel synthesis research that highlights key findings and research needs, and employs synthesis methodologies in new ways. Projects may focus primarily on ecological, environmental or social dynamics and/or linkages between environmental and social systems. The research must contribute to understanding problems in complex socio-environmental systems. Our intent is to foster interdisciplinarity at the portfolio (Theme-wide) level. You should anticipate interacting with other disciplines other than your own.
SESYNC has significant modeling, data analysis, and database management expertise to guide and support teams that need assistance with the technical aspects of data mining, processing, integration, analysis, visualization, and/or modeling.
Proposals must be uploaded to SESYNC's online submission system by May 15, 2017, at 2 p.m. PST.
Please see the sponsor's website for full details regarding this opportunity.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced $150.2 million in available funding to support projects that build a foundation of knowledge in agricultural sciences to address a range of societal and global challenges such as food security, food safety, sustainable agriculture, and rural entrepreneurship. Funding is made through NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative is America's flagship competitive grants program that provides funding for foundational and translational research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. The AFRI Foundational RFA supports six priorities of the 2014 Farm Bill: plant health, production, and plant products; animal health, production, and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; bioenergy, natural resources, and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. In addition, it supports Critical Agricultural Research and Extension as well as Exploratory Grants Programs. AFRI projects address key agricultural, food, and natural resource problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance.
Program areas include:
a. Plant health, and production and plant products;
b. Animal health, and production and animal products;
c. Food safety, nutrition, and health;
d. Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment;
e. Agriculture systems and technology; and
f. Agriculture economics and rural communities
g. Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARE)
h. Exploratory Research
New this year, the AFRI Foundational RFA welcomes workshop proposals to catalyze activities for harnessing big data to synthesize new knowledge, to make predictive decisions, and to foster data-driven innovation in agriculture. This new focus area aligns with NIFA's Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools (FACT) initiative, which supports data-enabled solutions for addressing complex problems facing contemporary agriculture. This year's AFRI Foundational RFA also seeks applications to develop a U.S. animal vaccinology research network to help leverage U.S. expertise and encourage mutually beneficial international linkages to develop new vaccine tools and technologies.
Review the full AFRI Foundational RFA to identify a program area priority to submit an application to with the assistance of OCG Proposal Development Services. Deadlines vary by program area and begin as early as May 24th. Letters of Intent may be required depending on the program area.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
