Message from VP Dooley:

By the time you read this ANR Update, USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will have released their requests for applications for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). You've already heard that we are preparing to provide significant support for those seeking AFRI grants for integrated research and extension projects that align with our strategic initiatives. This new competitive grants program, with its emphasis on integrated research, education and extension programs, is a new way of doing business for NIFA grant programs.

Roger Beachy, director of NIFA, speaking to deans and directors from across the country, said recently, “I want USDA science – extramural and intramural – to focus most of its resources on accomplishing a few, bold outcomes with great power to improve human health and protect our environment.”

Sound familiar? I hope so. Even before I became vice president for ANR, working and advocating for this strategic change has been important to me. Since I took this job, we have all been working to create a vision and structure that would enable us to address big problems and to compete effectively for a significantly larger pool of funds.

Increased USDA funding for anything these days is a rarity. The federal formula funds and state appropriations that have long supported the Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension have been declining in real value for 20 years. Moreover, with almost 15% of the U.S. population and an even more impressive agricultural economy, California's share of these formula funds is between 3% and 4%. Those resources are important of course, but they are not our best growth opportunity.

No single program defines everything we do. In fact, no single competitive grants program is going to define even most of what we do. But this initiative and the Strategic Initiatives we’ve begun give us the opportunity to compete for a significantly increased pool of funds, identify opportunities to solve significant problems, and demonstrate our importance to the people of California.

The full text of Beachy’s speech can be found here: http://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=2100.

Here is the link to NIFA’s requests for AFRI applications: http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/rfas/afri_rfa.html.

Roger Beachy, NIFA director, will host a Webcast 11 a.m. PDT today (March 23) to discuss discusses changes to the FY 2010 AFRI competitive funding opportunity. The recorded Webcast can be viewed online at www.nifa.usda.gov/newsroom/webcast.html.

Please contact the appropriate initiative leader for assistance in applying for these funds.

View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group

These announcements are also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.