Composting and Food Waste Reduction Program

The goals and objectives of this program are: • Food Waste Reduction Objectives o Reduce municipal food and waste o Divert residential and commercial food waste from landfills • Composting and Conservation Objectives o Generate compost o Increase agr

Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) cooperative agreements assist local and municipal governments with projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. Implementation activities will increase access to compost for agricultural producers, improve soil quality and encourages innovative, scalable waste management plans that reduce and divert food waste from landfills.

Grant funds must be used for allowable costs necessary to conduct approved CFWR objectives according to the NOFO.

These projects may be subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If applicable, cooperator is required to work to complete an environmental review of each awarded project before project commencement. In addition, prior to any ground-disturbing activities related to NRCS funding, the awardee must work with NRCS staff to complete an environmental evaluation (EE) related to those activities. Awardees may be required to prepare or pay for preparation of an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS), should any environmental review find that an EA or EIS is required.

NIFA evaluates applications using the evaluation criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. In general, NIFA evaluates applications using a two-part process. First, NIFA screens each application to ensure that it meets the administrative requirements set forth in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). All administrative requirements must be met in order for the application to proceed to the next level of review. Second, a scientific peer-review process is used to technically evaluate applications that have met the administrative requirements using a review panel and published evaluation criteria, found in the NOFO.

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 CFWR 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., schools, local government, 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 gender representation and an 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 NOFO.

Refer to the NOFO.