Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) awards Research, Education, Extension, and Integrated grants to improve rural economies, alleviate the impacts of pests and diseases, increase food and agriculture profitability, stimulate the bioec

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is the nation's leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awards AFRI Research, Education, Extension, and Integrated grants to improve rural economies, alleviate the impacts of pests and diseases, increase food and agriculture profitability, stimulate the bioeconomy, maintain long-term production capability, increase water efficiency issues, ensure food safety and nutritional quality, enhance human nutrition, and train the next generation of the food and agriculture workforce. AFRI was established by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill and re-authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill. The program was re-authorized to be funded at $700 million a year. FY 2026 Appropriations fund AFRI at $435 million. NIFA provides AFRI grants to support research, education and Extension/outreach activities in six farm bill priority areas: • Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; • Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; • Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; • Bioenergy, Natural resources, and Environment; • Agriculture Systems and Technology; and • Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities. AFRI-funded science is vital to protecting America's food, fuel, and fiber supply. In addition, AFRI programs help develop new technologies and a workforce that will advance our national security, our energy self-sufficiency, and the health of Americans.

This initiative supports integrated and non-integrated programs. Please refer to Part III, A of the current Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Request for Applications for the complete eligibility requirements.

This initiative supports integrated and non-integrated programs. Please refer to Part III, A of the current Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Request for Applications (RFA) for the complete eligibility requirements.

Grant funds must be used for allowable costs necessary to conduct approved fundamental and applied research, extension and education objectives to address food and agricultural sciences. The competitive grants program shall address the following areas: 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.

Funds shall not be used for the construction of a new building or facility or the acquisition, expansion, remodeling, or alteration of an existing building or facility (including site grading and improvement, and architect fees). Funds may not be used for any purposes other than those approved in the grant award documents. Indirect cost is not allowable if awarded as an equipment, conference, or post-doc fellowship grant. Section 720 of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (Pub.L. No. 112-55) limits indirect costs to 30 percent of the total Federal funds provided under each award. Therefore, when preparing budgets, applicants should limit their requests for recovery of indirect costs to the lesser of their institution's official negotiated indirect cost rate or the equivalent of 30 percent of total Federal funds awarded. Special Note on Indirect Costs as in-kind matching contributions: Indirect costs may be claimed under the Federal portion of the award budget or, alternatively, indirect costs may be claimed as a matching contribution (if no indirect costs are requested under the Federal portion of the award budget). However, unless explicitly authorized in the NOFO, indirect costs may not be claimed on both the Federal portion of the award budget and as a matching contribution, unless the total claimed on both the Federal portion of the award budget and as a matching contribution does not exceed the maximum allowed indirect costs or the institution's negotiated indirect cost rate, whichever is less. An awardee may split the allocation between the Federal and non-Federal portions of the budget only if the total amount of indirect costs charged to the project does not exceed the maximum allowed indirect costs or the institution's negotiated indirect cost rate, whichever is less. For example, if an awardees' indirect costs are capped at 30 percent pursuant to FY 2012 appropriated funds, Section 720 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012 (Division A of Pub. L. 112-55), the awardee may request 15 percent of the indirect costs on both the Federal portion of the award and as a matching contribution. Or, the awardee may request any similar percentage that, when combined, does not exceed the maximum indirect cost rate of 30 percent.

The term of a competitive grant under this program may not exceed ten (10) years. 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart D applies to this program. Further details are provided in the Award document Form NIFA-2009 and the NIFA General Terms and Conditions Grants and Cooperative Agreements (dated October 2016) at: https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/nifa-general-terms-and-conditions-grants-and-cooperative-agreements-october-2016. SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs) for specific and pertinent details. The most current RFAs are available as follows: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-sustainable-agricultural-systems Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Education and Workforce Development (EWD): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-education-workforce-development Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Foundational and Applied Science Program (FAS): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-foundational-applied-scienceRFAs are generally released annually. Hence, the RFAs provide the most current and accurate information available. Any specific instructions in the Competitive RFAs supersede the general information provided in the CFDA database.

All NOFOs are published on the Agency's website and Grants.gov. Applicants must complete the Grants.gov registration process. Applications should be submitted as outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Applications must follow the instructions provided per Grants.Gov.

Within guidelines established for the program as described in the Competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The most current NOFOs are available as follows: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-sustainable-agricultural-systems Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Education and Workforce Development (EWD): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-education-workforce-development Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Foundational and Applied Science Program (FAS): https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-foundational-applied-science

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 NOFO. 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 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).