Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative (FADI)

To provide funding to protect the food supply and agricultural production. This is accomplished by providing Federal assistance, through existing cooperative agreements, to three (3) national agricultural homeland security networks: the National Anim

The Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative was authorized in section 1484 of National Agricultural Research, Extension/outreach, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (NARETPA), 7 U.S.C 3351. Under this authority available to the Secretary, the Secretary shall use funds made available to carry out agricultural research, education, and extension activities for continuation of partnerships with institutions of higher education and other institutions to help form stable, long-term programs to enhance the biosecurity of the U.S.

In accordance with section 1472(c) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, (NARETPA) applicant may be: State agricultural experiment stations, State cooperative extension services, all colleges and universities, other research or education institutions and organizations, Federal and private agencies and organizations, individuals, and any other contractor or recipient, either foreign or domestic, to further research, extension, or teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences of the Department of Agriculture.

These funds are subject to the provisions of 31 U.S.C. 1301 requiring their use only for the purpose for which they were appropriated. Funding is limited to support for the four (4) aforementioned agrosecurity networks.

In accordance with statutory time limits, project periods, including no-cost extensions of time, the term of a Cooperative Agreement under this authority may not to exceed five (5) years. Further details are provided in the Award document Form NIFA-2009 and the NIFA General Terms and Conditions Grants and Cooperative Agreements.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2002, a panel of USDA scientists knowledgeable in the Nation's plant and animal disease diagnostic capability, recommended to the Secretary a plan of initiating a comprehensive national network of laboratories for the rapid detection and diagnosis of plant and animal diseases. The institutions selected by the panel for initial inclusion in the network were recommended using the following criteria: (1) Existing scientific capacity; (2) Existing laboratory capacity which could be modified to meet Biosafety Level 3 requirements; (3) Both animal and plant diagnostic capabilities; (4) Geographical location meeting one or more of the following requirements: located in an area with a high risk of disease/pest incursions; located in an area with high concentration of vulnerable agricultural activity; complements or supplements regional Federal laboratory activity or is in an area not effectively served by an existing Federal facility; (5) State-of-the-art communication and information technology systems. Must be capable of managing secure communications with other laboratories and central reporting unit; and (6) An effective outreach/extension system. These recommendations were utilized to select the original cooperative agreement recipients and are annually evaluated by USDA/NIFA in network planning. Please refer to the program websites for further specific and pertinent details.

Applications are subjected to a system of peer and merit review in accordance with section 103 of the Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7613) by a panel of qualified scientists and other appropriate persons who are specialists in the field covered by the proposal. Within the limit of funds available for such purpose, the NIFA Authorized Departmental Officer (ADO) shall make grants to those responsible, eligible applicants whose applications are judged most meritorious under the procedures set forth in the RFA. Reviewers will be selected based upon training and experience in relevant scientific, extension, or education fields, taking into account the following factors: (a) The level of relevant formal scientific, technical education, or extension experience of the individual, as well as the extent to which an individual is engaged in relevant research, education, or extension activities; (b) the need to include as reviewers experts from various areas of specialization within relevant scientific, education, or extension fields; (c) the need to include as reviewers other experts (e.g., producers, range or forest managers/operators, and consumers) who can assess relevance of the applications to targeted audiences and to program needs; (d) the need to include as reviewers experts from a variety of organizational types (e.g., colleges, universities, industry, state and Federal agencies, private profit and non-profit organizations) and geographic locations; (e) the need to maintain a balanced composition of reviewers with regard to minority and female representation and an equitable age distribution; and (f) the need to include reviewers who can judge the effective usefulness to producers and the general public of each application. Evaluation Criteria will be delineated in the Competitive Request for Applications (RFA).

From 30 to 60 days. Contact the National Program Leader (NPL) - Headquarters Office regarding dates for specific deadlines, start and end dates, and range of approval/disapproval time. Information is also available via our website and may be obtained via the Grants.gov website. NIFA's respective links regarding general information are provided below: http://nifa.usda.gov/ http://www.grants.gov.

Specific details are provided in the Request for Applications (RFA) each fiscal year.