Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

 

To establish a competitive grants program to provide funding for fundamental and applied research, extension, and education to address food and agricultural sciences.

Active 10.310 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Department of Agriculture B - Project Grants Not applicable. Competitive, Special and Facilities Research Grant Act, Section 2(2)(b), 7 U.S.C. 450i., 7 U.S.C. 450i 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. The System for Award Management (SAM) combines eight federal procurement systems, including CCR, and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance into one new system. CCR activities are conducted through SAM (the CCR website will redirect users to SAM). Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Number and System for Award Management (SAM): Each applicant (unless excepted under 2 CFR ? 25.110(b) or (c), or has an exception approved by the Federal awarding agency under 2 CFR ? 25.110(d)) is required to: (i) Be registered in SAM before submitting its application; (ii) Provide a valid UEI number in its application; and (iii) Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency. It also must state that the Federal awarding agency may not make a Federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable UEI and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time the Federal awarding agency is ready to make a Federal award, the Federal awarding agency may determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant. Applicants must furnish the information required in the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs). Successful applicants recommended for funding must furnish the information and assurances requested during the award documentation process. These include, but are not limited to the following: Organizational Management Information - Specific management information relating to an applicant shall be submitted on a one time basis, with updates on an as needed basis, as part of the responsibility determination prior to the award of a grant identified under this RFA, if such information has not been provided previously under this or another NIFA program. NIFA will provide copies of forms recommended for use in fulfilling these requirements as part of the preaward process. Although an applicant may be eligible based on its status as one of these entities, there are factors which may exclude an applicant from receiving Federal financial and nonfinancial assistance and benefits under this program (e.g., debarment or suspension of an individual involved or a determination that an applicant is not responsible based on submitted organizational management information). This information collection is approved under OMB Circular Control No. 0524-0026, "Assurance of Compliance with the Department of Agriculture Regulations Assuring Civil Rights, Compliance and Organization Information." SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs) for further 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-science RFAs 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. 2 CFR 200, Subpart E - Cost Principles applies to this program. Preapplication coordination is required. All RFAs 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 Request for Applications (RFA). Applications must follow the instructions provided per Grants.Gov. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) only accepts electronic applications which are submitted via Grants.gov in response to specific Requests for Applications (RFA). Applicants must complete the Grants.gov registration process. For information about the pre-award phase of the grant lifecycle application processes see: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/learn-grants/grants-101/pre-award-phase.html. Further, applicants must follow the instructions provided in the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide, which can be assessed as follows: Adobe NIFA Applications. 2 CFR part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards and 2 CFR part 400 USDA's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards apply to this program. SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs) for further 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-science RFAs 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. 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). 2 CFR 200 - Subpart C and Appendix I and 2 CFR part 400 apply to this Program. SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs) for further 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-science RFAs 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. Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines Other. From 30 to 60 days. Contact the National Program Leader (NPL), as indicated per CFDA Section # 152 - 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. SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to the Competitive Request for Applications (RFAs) for further 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. Not Applicable. 2 CFR Part 200 - Subparts D & E apply to this program. Not applicable. 2 CFR part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards and 2 CFR part 400 USDA's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards apply to this program. Within guidelines established for the program as described in the Competitive Request for Application (RFA). 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-science RFAs 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. 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. Performance Reports: PERFORMANCE MONITORING: See above for pertinent and specific details. Relation to other audit requirements, but records must be available for review or audit by appropriate officials of the Federal agency, pass-through entity, and Government Accountability Office (GAO). This program is also subject to audit by the cognizant Federal audit agency and the USDA Office of Inspector General. In accordance with 2 CFR Part 400 - Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, ? 200.334 Retention requirements for records. Grantees shall maintain separate records for each grant to ensure that funds are used for authorized purposes. Grant-related records are subject to inspection during the life of the grant and must be retained at least three (3) years. Records must be retained beyond the three (3) year period if litigation is pending or audit findings have not been resolved 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart D applies to this program. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching is mandatory. 100%. Funds are awarded competitively. No formula grants are awarded under this authority. For equipment grants – Unless criteria is met to qualify for waiver by the Secretary, matching shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost of the special research equipment or other equipment acquired using funds from the grant. For applied research – if the grant is commodity-specific; and not of national scope, the grant recipient is required to match USDA funds awarded on a dollar-for-dollar basis from non-Federal sources with cash and/or in-kind contributions.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. 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. Method of awarding/releasing assistance: NIFA utilizes the Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP), a secure, web-based electronic payment and information system that allows federal agencies to administer funds. Currently, ASAP is the only payment source for new NIFA grantees. NIFA utilizes the Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP), a secure, web-based electronic payment and information system that allows federal agencies to administer funds. Currently, ASAP is the only payment source for new NIFA grantees. National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 Additional Websites: http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-climate-variability-and-change-challenge-area http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-food-security-challenge-area http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-food-safety-challenge-area http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-sustainable-bioenergy-challenge-area http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-education-and-literacy-initiative http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-childhood-obesity-prevention-challenge-area http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-foundational-program http://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/ecology-and-evolution-infectious-diseases http://nifa.usda.gov/press-release/research-projects-improve-plant-feedstocks-bioenergy-production-departments http://nifa.usda.gov/program/afri-water-agriculture-challenge-area USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader,USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Food Production and Sustainability, Division of Animal Systems P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment, Division of Global Climate Change, P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Food Production and Sustainability, Division of Plant Systems-Protection, P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Division of Food Safety, P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment, Division of Bioenergy, P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061 AND USDA, NIFA, National Program Leader, Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Division of Nutrition,
P.O. Box 419205, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205 Courier/Package Delivery Address: 2312 East Bannister Road, Mail Stop 10000, Kansas City, MO 64141-3061,
Kansas City, MO 64141
Kansas City, MO 64141 USA
afri@usda.gov
Phone: (202) 734-0472 https://nifa.usda.gov/program/agriculture-and-food-research-initiative-afri 12-1500-0-1-352 (Project Grants) FY 22$448,000,000.00; FY 23 est $429,000,000.00; FY 24 FY 21$551,282,662.00; FY 20$398,495,304.00; FY 19$378,828,821.00; FY 18$365,236,233.00; FY 17$342,971,061.00; FY 16$320,740,856.00; - The difference between the appropriation and obligation numbers reflects legislative authorized set-asides deducted as appropriate, and in some cases the availability of obligational authority from prior years. NOTES: (1) This program represents no year funds. (2) These funds do not include carryover.. (4) FY 2018 funding proposed significant increases in AFRI Science Priorities. 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 RFAs 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. As an administrator of U.S. government support, NIFA works in partnership with grantees to ensure responsible stewardship of federal funds. Our grantees and partners are required to comply with all relevant rules and regulations. The following resources are provided to NIFA's partners and award recipients to support their adherence to federal regulations governing program performance: NIFA's primary (main) website: https://nifa.usda.gov/regulations-and-guidelines The following represent specific documents and direct links: POLICY GUIDE NIFA's Federal Assistance Policy Guide describes agency policies and procedures. https://nifa.usda.gov/policy-guide CERTIFICATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS Certifications and representations provided through the NIFA application process. https://nifa.usda.gov/certifications-and-representations ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF USDA SUPPORT BY NIFA When acknowledging USDA support in accordance with 2 CFR Part 415, grantees must use the following acknowledgement for all projects or initiatives supported by NIFA. https://nifa.usda.gov/acknowledgment-usda-support-nifa FEDERAL REGULATIONS The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) lists all regulations published in the Federal Register. https://nifa.usda.gov/federal-regulations FOIA The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has the right to request access to federal documents and information such as research data. https://nifa.usda.gov/foia NEPA POLICY AND GUIDANCE The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Policy and Guidance set the standard for identifying potential environmental impacts. https://nifa.usda.gov/nepa-policy-and-guidance OGFM ISSUED CORRESPONDENCE The Office of Grants and Financial Management occasionally issues correspondence to applicants, grantees, and/or the general public for informational or clarification purposes. https://nifa.usda.gov/ogfm-issued-correspondence RESEARCH MISCONDUCT NIFA requires that all its awardees adhere to the USDA Scientific Integrity Policy and the Federal Policy on Research Misconduct. https://nifa.usda.gov/research-misconduct NIFA'S GENERAL AWARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS Award terms and conditions are determined by statutory, regulatory, and agency requirements, as well as each grant's circumstances. Terms and conditions dictate important items related to your grant, including method of payment, reporting frequency and content, and prior approval requirements. References to the terms and conditions of awards are located on the NIFA 2009 Award Fact Sheet. NIFA's general award terms and conditions (see link below) is applicable to this program, for awards with an award date on December 26, 2014 and thereafter. https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/nifa-general-terms-and-conditions-grants-and-cooperative-agreements-october-2016. Fiscal Year 2016 For FY 2016: (A) AFRI: Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change Challenge Area: The FY 2016 RFA has not been released, so there are no new awards to discuss to date. In FY 2016, an anticipated $1,937,025 continuation award will be made to support a study to increase Southern Great Plains beef-grazing systems resilience to climate variability and climate change mitigating their environmental footprint of agriculture. An anticipated $1,973,691 continuation award will be made to develop environmentally-sound US dairy production with enhanced resilience and capacity for climate change adaptation. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. (B) AFRI: Food Security: For FY 2016: The panel peer review process is ongoing. However, it is anticipated there will be 9 awards will be made. Continuation awards will be made on food security projects funded in prior years. (C ) AFRI: Food Safety Challenge Area: Not available. FY 2016 Applications are scheduled to be paneled for review in November 2016. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. (D) AFRI: Sustainable Bioenergy: For FY 2016 it is anticipated that approximately 40 proposals will be reviewed and up two 4 new awards will be made totaling up to $12 million. 2 continuation awards were also made for totaling $4 million under the Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP). It is also anticipated that 18 proposals will be reviewed and up to 3 awards will be made totaling $9 million under the Investing in America’s Scientific Corps: Preparing a New Generation of Students, Faculty, and Workforce for Emerging Challenges in Bioenergy, Bioproducts, and the Bioeconomy priority all under Sustainable Bioenergy Challenge Area. Under AFRI Foundational Program, there will be two Research-only priorities under Bioenergy, Natural Resource, and Environment (BNRE) Priority Area: (1) Cover Crops, and (2) Socioeconomic Implications and Public Policy Challenges. Estimated 30 proposals will be reviewed and up to 6 new awards will be made for each priority; with two priorities totaling approximately $6 million. (E) AFRI: Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI): Award recommendations are pending. Once executed, information will be available at http://cris.nifa.usda.gov/. Projects funded will develop the next generation of leaders who will be actively engaged in agriculture, forestry, and food related research, education, and extension careers. Successful proposals will focus on developing the next generation of scientists, who will lead agriculture into the future by solving current and future challenges facing our society. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. (F) AFRI: Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area: It is anticipated that projects funded in FY 2016 will increase our understanding of childhood obesity prevention. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. (G) AFRI: Foundational Program: For FY 2016: (1) Foundational Knowledge of Agricultural Species: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will lead to the development of innovative solutions to problems threatening the productivity, efficiency, and sustainability of the selected production system. (2) Pest and Beneficial Species in Agricultural Production Systems: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will develop novel, innovative and environmentally sound ways to manage agriculturally important pests and beneficial species. (3) Physiology of Agricultural Plants: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will lead to the molecular, biochemical, cellular and whole plant, agronomic or eco-physiological approaches to improve plant productivity or performance. (4) Plant Breeding for Agricultural Production: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will lead to the improvement of crop productivity, efficiency, quality, performance and/ or local adaptation to support public breeding efforts. (5) Animal Reproduction: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge in cellular, molecular, genomic/genetic or whole-animal aspects of animal reproduction. (6) Animal Nutrition, Growth and Lactation: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY2016 will increase knowledge in cellular, molecular, genomic/genetic or whole-animal aspects of nutrition, growth and lactation. (7) Animal Well-Being: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge of evaluating current management practices and developing new management practices that reduce animal stress and optimize sustainable production efficiency. (8) Animal Health and Disease: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge in cellular, molecular, genomic/genetic or whole-animal aspects of animal health and disease. (9) Tools and Resources – Animal Breeding, Genetics and Genomics: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge in the development of community genetic and genomic resources and tools including software, experimental protocol/methods for breeding which can be applied to advancing basic biology and applied animal health and nutrition. (10) Tools and Resources – Immune Reagents for Agricultural Animals: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge in the development of publicly accessible immunological reagents for agriculturally-relevant animal species. (11) Improving Food Safety: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will: (1) develop and validate cost efficient novel methods for capturing infectious human food-borne hazards; (2) Develop or improve and validate foodborne hazard detection methods; and (3) develop foodborne hazards in foods using risk based approach. (12) Improving Food Quality: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will: (1) increase knowledge in understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of foods and food ingredients; and (2) develop innovative food processing and packaging materials, and food quality monitoring technologies. (13) Understanding Antimicrobial Resistance: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will improve the understanding of the development and functionality of alternative to traditional antimicrobials currently used in agriculture. (14) Function and Efficacy of Nutrients: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will investigate the role of bioactive components of food in preventing inflammation or promoting gastrointestinal health. (15) Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycling: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will increase knowledge in the physical and biogeochemical (including microbial) processes affecting the flow, fate and transport, transformation, movement, and storage of nitrogen and phosphorus. (16) Agroecosystem Management: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will develop and evaluate innovative agroecosystem management practices and systems for their potential to enhance ecosystem services. (17) Cover Crops for Bioenergy and Biobased Products: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will develop and evaluate the regional/sub-regional use and system management of new and innovative cover crops and / or double cropping systems for use in the production of biofuels, biopower, or biobased products. (18) Socioeconomic Implications and Public Policy Challenges of Bioenergy and Bioproducts Market Development and Expansion: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will strengthen science- based knowledge and informing policy- or decision –makers in the emerging bioeconomy field. (19) Agricultural Engineering: It is anticipated that the projects in FY 2016 will develop engineering devices, technologies, and tools to improve agriculturally relevant plant, animal, forestry, and natural resource systems. (20) Bioprocessing and Bioengineering: It is anticipated that the projects in FY 2016 will develop engineered products and processes to improve agriculturally relevant plant, animal, forestry, and natural resource systems. (21) Nanotechnology for Agricultural and Food Systems: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will develop nanotechnology enabled solutions for food security through improved productivity, quality, and biodiversity; improved nutritional value of feeds and more effective therapies that significantly impact animal health and wellness; enhanced food safety and biosecurity; and increased protection for natural resources, the environment, and agricultural ecosystems. (22) Economics, Markets and Trade: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will focus on developing theories, methods and applications of economics. (23) Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will advance economic theories, methods, tools, analyses and applications. Those advancement should contribute to the understanding of an ecological approach to agriculture that embraces both production and sustainable resource management. (24) Behavioral and Experimental Economic Applications for Agri-Environmental Policy Design: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will apply behavioral and experimental techniques to agri-environmental issues which will advance application Behavioral Economics to conservation policy design and implementation. (25) Small and Medium-Sized Farms: In FY 2016, this program anticipates in funding projects that develop and/or adopt new models to assist agricultural (farm, forest, or ranch) landowner/manager decision making with respect to appropriate scale management strategies and technologies to enhance economic efficiency and sustainability. (26) Innovation for Rural Entrepreneurs and Communities: It is anticipated that the projects funded in FY 2016 will enhance economic opportunity and well-being of people involved in agriculture, food systems and rural communities and to enhance the adoption of private strategies and public policy options to benefit the well-beings and resilience of agricultural, and food businesses, and rural communities. (27) Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARE): It is anticipated that the FY 2016 funded projects under this program will develop and implement solutions to critical producer problems associated with one or more of the six Farm Bill priorities. Exploratory Research: In FY 2016, this program anticipates in funding projects relevant to one of the six Farm Bill priorities that will develop proof of concept for untested novel ideas including “high risk – high impact” work that will lead to a significant change in US agriculture. (H) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (w/NSF, NIH, USDA and UK BBSRC): No Action Needed for FY 2016. (I) Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy: A Joint Research (USDA & DOE): No Action Needed for FY 2016. (J) AFRI: Water for Agriculture Challenge Area: No data is available. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. (K) National Institute of Food and Agriculture International Wheat Yield Partnership Program: Information is not yet available. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (L) Carbon Cycle Science (InterAgency NASA/DOE): (1) Microbe-mineral interactions and the fate of carbon along soil climo-chronosequences: This project will Introduce of more rigorous process equations or sub-models into soil and ecosystem models for incorporation into earth system models will improve model predictions of future climate change which will help in both mitigation and adaptation strategies and reduce risks associated with a changing climate. (2) Integrated Belowground Greenhouse Gas Flux Measurements and Modeling: Soils and wetlands are significant sources and sinks for atmospheric CO2, CH4 and N2O and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these sources are likely to play a significant role as biotic feedbacks to climate change. The main objective is to improve understanding of and modeling capacity for interactions of belowground temperature, moisture, and substrate supply as controllers of net soil emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O. Intense and verified observations and multiple GHG measurements will be made of a wetland-to upland site with ongoing work funded by DOE and NASA. These observations of soil and ecosystem fluxes of multiple GHGs will be used to develop and validate the merged model, as well as to quantify the uncertainties, providing a new approach to simulation of climate-dependent responses of terrestrial ecosystems at both short (hourly to seasonal) and long (annual to centennial) time scales. The parsimonious structures of these models are designed to be applicable to both site-level analysis and Earth system models. (3) C-cycling in native vs. non-native dominated systems: This project will address a fundamental knowledge gap on how belowground C-cycling is impacted by the replacement of native rangelands with non-native communities under ambient or altered rainfall patterns in a unique long-term experiment. Results from the study will be useful to modelers and land managers by quantifying the costs and benefits of planting native vs. non-native species under an altered climate, considering effects the exotics, biodiversity, and management in grassland systems on rooting depth, C3-C4 biomass proportions, and aboveground biomass production (peak biomass). (4) Soil Organic Carbon Interactions with Organic Matter Additions: Mechanisms and Models: Inform decisions of policy related to land management; and enhance our ability to predict future climate change and understand the consequences of land management practices in terms of productivity and GHG emissions. (5) Reducing uncertainty in carbon cycle science of North America: a synthesis program across United States and Mexico: Improved understanding of the interactions and gradients across all of North America, from central America to the arctic regions on Alaska and Canada, allowing for better models and predictions with reduced uncertainty (6) Improved Observation of Effects of Hydrology and Micro-topography on Belowground C Cycling and Net Ecosystem Exchange in Natural and Managed Forested Wetlands in the Southeast U.S. to Improve Ecosystem Models: Improved earth system models and ability to project effects of climate change and sea level rise and to allow society to mitigate and adapt to reduce risks associated with climate change. (7) Carbon cycle dynamics within Oregon's urban-suburban-forested-agricultural landscapes: An important impact will be to identify policies and management strategies that can sustain ecosystem function while addressing land use changes that are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This observation-driven modeling approach will provide an invaluable policy analysis tool for other regions as it projects integrated impacts of land use decisions and climate change on ecosystem carbon and water processes and climate feedbacks. (M) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (aka INFEWS): There are four awards scheduled to be funded by USDA NIFA for this program. One project, jointly funded with NSF, will look at how coordinated management of physical and non-physical water storage systems across the food, energy, and water systems in the Pacific Northwest will promotes resilience in the region. Another project will develop a novel, human computation-based decision support system that will enable local and regional community stakeholder to enable robust adaptation decisions for natural resources management in FEW systems. The third project, jointly funded with NSF, will use modelling efforts to learn how to better monitor and manage California’s stressed interdependent food, energy and water systems. These model will provide insights into agent behaviors, crop responses, infrastructure and long-term trends in the supply and demand of resources. The last NIFA sponsored project will address food, energy, and water system challenges in the Wisconsin dairy industry by combining multi-scale systems analysis and experimental research to create a powerful technology evaluation and decision-making platform. (N) Agricultural Greenhouse Gases: No further action is required. NIFA decided not to participate in the European Research Area Net (ERA-NET) Solicitation as instructed by the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture. (O) National Robotics Initiative: RAPID: ROBOT-ASSISTED PRECISION IRRIGATION DELIVERY This project will investigate a co-robotic approach where a team of humans and robots move through fields to adjust low-cost adjustable drip irrigation emitters at the plant level. The project will involve the design, development, and evaluation of a series of prototypes of low-cost, robust co-robotic systems compatible with existing drip irrigation infrastructure in vineyards and orchards. The project will build on prior work in irrigation modeling and develop feedback algorithms compatible with available sensing technologies using diffusion models to optimize desired emitter settings. The project will also extend results in Orienteering Planning to advise humans and guide robots about when, where, and how to act to achieve desired field conditions at the plant level. PRECISION POLLINATION ROBOT In this project, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers propose to develop a prototype of precision pollination robot for bramble (e.g. blackberry and raspberry) pollination in a greenhouse environment. Computer vision algorithms will be used to estimate the flower position, size, orientation, and physical condition, and to guide the robotic arm to capture and interact with flowers. A set of soft brush tips, mimicking bee’s hairs (i.e. scopa) and motion, will then be used to pollinate flowers. The design parameters of the delicate robot-flower interface will be driven by a series of insect pollination experiments. The precision rover navigation, mapping, and localization of individual flowers within complex greenhouse environments will be provided through a fusion of GPS, Lidar, camera, inertial sensor, and wheel encoder measurements. A human operator collaborates with the robot through supplying agriculture domain knowledge, providing high-level decisions, and correcting mistakes made by the robot ROBOT-ASSISTED FIELD-BASED HIGH THROUGHPUT PLANT PHENOTYPING High-throughput phenotyping technologies that can quickly and repeatedly scan tens of thousands of individuals using an array of advanced sensor and data analytics tools are critical to improving the ability of scientists to dissect the genetics of quantitative traits such as yield and stress tolerance. The proposed project, to develop a robot-assisted field-based high throughput phenotyping system that integrates both ground and unmanned aerial elements to quantitatively measure a suite of key traits iteratively throughout the growing season, is expected to unmask plant responses that will inform a new level and quality of decision making in selection of crop genotypes for specific production conditions. The task coordination between ground and aerial vehicles will result in new discoveries in the area of partitioning and coverage control. Employing the proposed high throughput phenotyping system to acquire data on an unprecedented scale could address challenges that are unique to improvement of cotton (the focal crop), as well as general constraints leading to improvement of most crops. SALIENCY-DRIVEN ROBOTIC NETWORK FOR SPATIO-TEMPORAL PLANT PHENOTYPING The objective of this project is to build a network of ground robots that can collect multi-modal data in research farms for high throughput modular plant phenotyping. The robotic network will have the following capabilities: (i) Navigate in a farm to collect data with minimal human intervention during operation; (ii) Autonomous decision making i.e, it can take its own decisions for maximizing the value of information of the acquired data; (iii) Scalable in terms of the size of the farmland; and (iv) Work in collaboration with humans to improve their situational awareness in multi-dimensional genome wide studies. The approach will leverage opportunistic sensing, task partitioning and scout-task allocation and spatio-temporal importance map building, to enable resolution of the above science questions that cannot be addressed without the use of robotic systems. AT THE WATER’S EDGE – INSTALLATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF ROBOTIC SENSING SYSTEMS Wetlands are critical to the water cycle, yet they are a difficult environment to safely and effectively monitor. Robot systems have the potential to transform our understanding of complex wetlands systems by not only allowing faster and higher density sensing, but also by enabling new types of measurements and sample collections that cannot currently be performed without significantly disrupting these sensitive systems. This project proposes expanding current unmanned aerial vehicle systems, developing novel water monitoring systems, and designing algorithms in order to enable: (1) accurate measurement of the dynamic wetlands channels, including topography and flow, without prior knowledge; (2) adaptive and autonomous installation of static and limited-mobility sensors; and (3) optimization of the overall robot and sensor system to improve information gain while constrained by limited energy and communications. (P) NSF Cyber-Physical Systems: Information is not yet available. Pertinent details to be provided by Program at a future date. (Q) Plant Biotic Interactions (PBI) Program: No awards have been made yet for FY 2016. Pertinent data to be provided by Program at a future date. The following represents examples of funded projects for active Programs: (A) AFRI: Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change Climate Masters: One (1) project aims to increase climate change literacy in the arid Southwest while supporting both adaptation and mitigation activities for different and diverse groups, such as tribal communities and Hispanic farmers through a planning and outreach program. Another project is developing a program that will help build climate resilient communities in rural Alaskan communities, including native Alaskan villages. Climate and Land Use: A project focused in the Southeast will identify and test climate adaptation and mitigation in fruit and vegetable supply chains using a holistic, systems approach based on crop, economic, and environmental modeling. Another Land Use and Climate project will look at how climate is impacting land-use decision in the inland Pacific Northwest wheat-based systems to help adapt these systems to changing environments. (C ) AFRI: Food Safety • Mitigating the Risk of Antibiotic Resistance at Critical Control Points in the Beef Cattle Manure Management System • Developing Computational Tools to Identify Critical Control Points for Mitigating the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance in Agro-ecosystems • Mitigation of Fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter in Cattle • Mitigating Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistance on Large Dairy Farms by Reducing Behavioral Pathways of Exposure • Support for Hosting the International Symposium on Environmental Dimensions of Antibiotic Resistance (D) AFRI: Sustainable Bioenergy A total of seven (7) awards were made in FY 2016 for the Bioenergy Challenge Area in various program areas. Examples included but not limited to: NEWBio: Northeast Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium NEWBio aims to build robust, scalable and sustainable value chains for biomass energy in the Northeast growing short rotation woody crops and perennial grasses on underutilized or marginal lands. System For Advanced Biofuels Production From Woody Biomass In The Pacific Northwest This project is to ready the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for a 2015 introduction of a 100% infrastructure compatible biofuels industry that meets the region's pro-rata share of Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) targets using sustainably grown regionally appropriate woody energy crops, thereby helping to revitalize the region's agriculture/forestry sectors with establishment of a sustainable advanced biofuels industry that supports both large and small growers and brings jobs to rural communities in the region. (E) AFRI: Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) • REEU: Projects were funded that promote research and extension learning experiences for undergraduates such that upon graduation they may enter the agricultural workforce with exceptional skills. Successful proposals enhanced the capacity of institutions to produce graduates with skills needed to address challenges of the 21st Century in the Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Human (FANH) sciences. • PD-STEP: Projects were funded that increase the number of K-14 teachers and educational professionals trained in the FANH sciences. Successful proposals developed pathways to identify and replicate best practices to engage youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields within the FANH sciences • Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships: Projects were funded that will develop the next generation of leaders who will be actively engaged in agriculture, forestry, and food related research, education, and extension careers. Successful proposals focused on developing the next generation of scientists who will lead agriculture into the future by solving current and future challenges facing our society. The awarded projects also targeted talented, highly-motivated doctoral candidates and postdoctoral trainees that demonstrate remarkable promise and demonstrated the ability to increase the number of gifted agricultural scientists in the United States. (F) AFRI: Childhood Obesity Prevention: Starting Early: Expansion of a Primary Care-Based Early Child Obesity Prevention Program This proposal is a multi-functional integrated research, education and extension project to evaluate the long term impacts of the Starting Early Program (StEP) and to develop and evaluate a two-fold expansion of this novel approach to preventing early child obesity. This proposal fully integrates research to determine the efficacy of the StEP intervention and key factors causing early childhood obesity, education of pregnant women and mothers as well as dietetic/nutrition and primary health care providers and extension into: (1) the Families, Food and Fitness eXtension community of practice; (2) primary health care setting; and (3) Supplemental Nutrition Programs for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Advancing and Expanding HomeStyles: Shaping HOME Environments and LifeSTYLES to Prevent Childhood Obesity This multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, multi-state, integrated Research, Education, and Extension project will advance and expand the progress of HomeStyles toward reducing risk of childhood overweight and obesity. HomeStyles, an in-home family intervention, enables and motivates English- and Spanish-speaking parents to shape home environments and weight-related lifestyle practices to prevent childhood obesity. Segment 1 of HomeStyles focused families with preschoolers (ages 2-5). Summer Harvest Adventure: A garden-based obesity prevention program for children residing in low-resource communities This novel proposal is in direct response to the AFRI Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area aligning with the USDA Strategic Plan. The long-term goal of our enhanced Team Nutrition-based intervention, "Summer Harvest Adventure," is to promote obesity prevention strategies (improve diet, physical activity) and help fill the summer meal gap for children, ages 8-11 years, residing in low-resource communities. The healthcare cost of every obese child in the U.S. over a lifetime is $19,000 more than his/her normal-weight counterpart. (G) AFRI: Foundational Program: Only a few examples are listed below. Numerous other examples of funded foundational projects under all of the 28 Program areas are available via this following link for abstracts: link 1) Foundational Knowledge of Agricultural Production Systems: i) Enhancing the rhizosphere microbiome and soil health to increase yield resilience to stress. ii) Exploring soil biological health and pest management trade-offs to maximize crop productivity. 2) Pests and Beneficial Species in Agricultural Production Systems: i) The role of eco-evolutionary dynamics in an expanding biocontrol agent. ii) Genetics, Genomics, and transcriptomics of host specificity in aphid parasitoids. 3) Physiology of Agricultural Plants: i) Developing low PH tolerant varieties of chickpea. ii) Do Nitrogen fixation strategies align with plant growth strategies? 4) Plant Breeding for Agricultural Production: i) Plant breeding for sweet corn improvement by rational design. ii) Dissecting sea wheatgrass genome to transfer biotic stress resistance and abiotic stress tolerance into wheat. 5) Animal Reproduction: i) Identifying metabolic markers of bull fertility. ii) Follicle selection and development in chickens. i) Next generation spray drift mitigation via field-deployable, real-time weather monitoring and novel spray nozzle control technologies. ii) Improving variable rate irrigation efficiency using a real-time soil water adaptive control model informed by sensors deployed on unmanned aircraft system. (I) Joint Plant Feedstock: In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, two (2) proposals were funded totaling $2 million. Project objectives included, but were not limited to: • Identifying yield drought tolerance through genotyping and phenotyping of Camelia as a Biofuel Crop. • Understanding the Resistance of Stalk Pathogens for Bioenergy Sorghum (J) AFRI: Water (for Agriculture): The program became effective FY 2017. Hence, no data is available for FY 2016. (M) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS): NIFA fully funded a $2.4 million award to a university to research the interconnections between the dairy, anaerobic digestion, ethanol, and corn production in Wisconsin to develop decision support tools to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture in the region. NIFA provided $452,000 to a university and $373,000 to another university with co-funding from NSF to a project researching how to best manage the competition for water between managing food, energy, and municipal uses in California. A university received $1.5 million to research cyberphysical systems to support a decision support system for coordination of adaptation planning among FEW actors in the Pacific Northwest. The following Programs are no longer funded: hence, no action is required: (B) AFRI: Food Security (L) International Wheat Yield Partnership
Fiscal Year 2018 Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 – ACTIVE Programs: (D) AFRI: Sustainable Bioenergy: The FY 2017 Sustainable Bioenergy Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP) continued work in FY 2018. • The Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC) is developing a resilient Brassica carinata based biofuel and bioproduct supply chain in the Southeast, from feedstock development to distribution to end user. • The Sustainable Bioeconomy for Arid Regions (SBAR) is a multi-level research project that will cultivate two desert-dwelling crops, guayule and guar, for a sustainable bioeconomy. (G) AFRI: Foundational and Applied Sciences Program: The AFRI Foundational Program provides funding for Research, Education and Extension projects in the six (6) AFRI Farm Bill priority areas. The following are selected examples of funded projects: • Implications of epigenetic rejuvenation during vegetative propagation for the production of locally adapted perennial crop cultivars. • Establishment of Completely Reprogrammed Bovine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. • Cereal Bran Fiber Controls on Gut Microbiome Diversity, Metabolic Function, and Host Physiology. • Leveraging Plant-Microbe Interactions to Increase Nutrient Use Efficiency and Bioenergy Crop Yield on Marginal Lands. • Advancing Forest Logging Residue Harvesting and Collection Logistics in the Eastern United States. • Combination Mechanical Shear And Moderate Electric Field Treatment For Production Of Safe, Nutritionally Enhanced Liquid Foods And Beverages. (I) Joint Plant Feedstock: Genetic Improvement of Seed Yield and Oil Content in Field Pennycress, a Non-Food Oilseed Feedstock - This project will genetically improve seed size and seed oil content of field pennycress for its use as a new winter annual cash cover crop for the U.S. Midwest. Breeding resilient, disease-resistant switchgrass cultivars for marginal lands - The goal of this project is to leverage previous research results to accelerate the development of superior, disease-resistant, climate-resilient switchgrass cultivars for expanding the range of biomass cultivation in the Northeast (J) AFRI: Water for Food Production Systems Challenge Area (WFPS): Water and Nutrient Recycling: A Decision Tool and Synergistic Innovative Technology The combination of continued global population growth, with an additional 3 billion people over the next 40 years, and expected intensification of climate variability and resulting variability in reliable water resources requires that water recycling become an integrated part of agricultural water resource management. Further, important nutrients are lost to wastewaters but could be recycled and reused for food production. Absent a concerted effort to recycle these nutrients, the food supply demand will inherently create a less resilient agriculture industry. Water treatment and nutrient needs will vary geographically and based on production. Thus, a user-driven strategy for food production supported by wastewater and nutrient recycling inherently demands not only a systems-based approach, but a flexible decision-making approach. They propose to study innovative technology for liquid manure wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery within the framework of a decision-making tool that allows technology selection based on region-specific needs for water recycling and food production. The tool will be built upon an economic and life cycle assessment model that guides the user to technology selection based on user-based knowledge of soil chemistry, fertilization needs, crop selection, livestock production, desired level of wastewater treatment, water use, wastewater production, and regulatory requirements. Evaluating Alternative Water Institutions in Snow-Dominated Basins: Are Food Production Systems at Risk from Changing Water Availability? Their team’s project aims to support food production in the arid west through a collaborative research framework integrating physical and economic models with stakeholder participation to evaluate outcomes of shifts in snowmelt-derived water supplies. Expected impacts include improved water management policy to support adaptation to changes in water available to agricultural users. The project will serve to enhance the resiliency of producers, thereby ensuring food security in the arid west and quantify the dynamics of water supply and demonstrate outcomes from altering water rights institutions, allocation mechanisms, and storage practices. By producing a hydro-climate-economic model for variable water supply, timing, and built storage capacity, the project will determine how changes in the timing of flows constrain agricultural producer decision making and how water rights institutions can exacerbate or relieve these constraints. Coupling domestic wastewater resources to urban controlled environment agriculture systems The project team hopes to couple the nutrient and water resources in domestic wastewater to urban controlled environment agriculture systems (DWW-CEAs). Supporting objectives include 1) confirming that produce growth rates and quality don’t diminish compared to controlled experiments where synthetic hydroponic fertilizers are used, 2) confirming that chemical contaminants don’t accumulate in the produce, 3) confirming that the produce is pathogen free, 4) reduce DWW treatment costs by using the latest in energy-positive treatment technologies, 5) developing a sustainable Food, Energy and Water system using modelling approaches to minimize investments in DWW-CEA systems while maximizing the utility of the systems, 6) providing an education in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics in high-tech wastewater treatment and CEA technologies, 7) develop a veteran workforce to help operate DWW-CEAs, and 8) guide local policy to provide sustainable and long-lasting solutions to conserve precious nutrients and water resources. To accomplish the project goal, a pilot-scale hydroponic system will be constructed and operated using DWW mined from the sewer system in Georgia. The DWW will be treated to remove contaminants and pathogens before being used to irrigate hydroponic systems to assure food and farm worker safety. Multiple fruit and vegetable varieties will be grown year-round. Water quality and chemical and microorganism contamination will be measured continuously. The project will show that DWW-CEAs are socially, environmentally and financially sustainable, easily replicable in urban areas and will provide a long-lasting solution to conserve water resources for food production. Cover Crops: The Cornerstone of Water Management in the Face of Increasing Demand and a Changing Climate Conservation tillage in combination with cover crops (CC) plays an important role in preserving long-term water and food security. However, adoption of these management approaches still remains low. The project team will develop a network of early CC and CT adopters to address gaps between perception and reality of how these tools influence water dynamics. They will measure CC impacts to soil water on multiple farms in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast to use in modeling efforts aimed at producers, stakeholders and policy educators. Objectives include: 1) quantify how on-farm management influences CC biomass quantity/quality and subsequent effects on water dynamics across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US; 2) model soil water and CC decomposition to determine water availability for following cash crop and volume of water moving out of the profile; 3) quantify and simulate how soil and CC management under current and future climates influence corn and soybean yield (potential, stability and economics) in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast; 4) develop an outreach program, informed by our early adopter network of farmers that identifies and overcomes misconceptions about the cost and value of CCs; and 5) provide science-based data supporting integration of CCs into federal crop insurance programs and increased farmer adoption of advanced risk management tools (CT and CCs). SmartPath: Grower-directed convergence of nanotechnology and smart decision analytics for irrigation water quality management related to pathogens. Agricultural water shortage problems arise from deteriorating quality, groundwater depletion, uncertainties in precipitation associated with climate change, and unsustainable freshwater usage. This project focuses on reducing overall freshwater use by developing new smart irrigation systems emphasizing the quality of alternative water sources with potential pathogen contamination (SmartPath). They will develop innovative software and hardware solutions for on-farm water management, enabling small farmers that do not have access to a nearby analytical lab service to meet the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements for testing water quality within eight hours of sampling. Treatment systems will be coupled with sensing systems for measuring physical, chemical and biological constituents including: temperature, pH, salinity (ions), dissolved oxygen, nitrate and phosphate, and fecal bacteria, and integrated into an internet of things wireless decision support system. Economic feasibility will be evaluated across various spatial scales (from individual farms to regions) for growers in 4 key regions of the US with varying drought conditions (Florida, Texas, Iowa and Maryland) and three types of alternative water sources (treated domestic wastewater, brackish groundwater, and surface water that does not meet regulatory requirements). Through laboratory testing and field case studies, SmartPath will develop and validate water treatment systems and increase the use of alternative water for irrigation of fresh produce, decreasing freshwater withdrawals and closing basin water gaps. SmartPath will train a transdisciplinary cohort of 12 graduate students and 20 undergraduate students. They anticipate reaching at least 1,000 stakeholders through integrated extension, research, and education efforts. Their project has received significant press coverage and parts of the work already have been adopted by producers. (M) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS): Fiscal Year (FY) 2018: No program funds were used for INFEWS. INFEWS program funds were reallocated to cover the shortages in the AFRI Water for Food Productions continuation awards. (N) AFRI - Education and Workforce Development (EWD): • REEU: Projects were funded that promote research and extension learning experiences for undergraduates Successful proposals enhanced the capacity of institutions to produce graduates with skills needed to address challenges of the 21st Century in the Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Human (FANH) sciences, including skills related to the Food and Agriculture Cyber informatics and Tools (FACT) initiative • PD-STEP: Projects were funded that increase the number of K-14 teachers and educational professionals trained in the FANH sciences. Successful proposals developed pathways to identify and replicate best practices to engage youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields within the FANH sciences. Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships: Projects were funded that will develop the next generation of leaders who will be actively engaged in agriculture, forestry, and food related research, education, and extension careers. Successful proposals focused on developing the next generation of scientists who will lead agriculture into the future by solving current and future challenges facing our society. The awarded projects also targeted talented, highly-motivated doctoral candidates and postdoctoral trainees that demonstrate remarkable promise and demonstrated the ability to increase the number of gifted agricultural professionals in the United States. (O) AFRI - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS): FY 2018 awards include the following selected examples: • Oilseed Pennycress - A new cash cover-crop for the Midwest; • Increasing Water Productivity, Nutrient Efficiency and Soil Health in Rainfed Food Systems of Semi-Arid Southern Great Plains; • Empowering US Broiler Production for Transformation and Sustainability; and • Enhancing the Sustainability of US Cropping Systems through Cover Crops and an Innovative Information and Technology Network. (P) Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics Research for Accelerated Animal Breeding (Joint NIH Project) (aka CEG): This program was not funded in Fiscal Year 2018. (Q) Cyber-Physical System Program (Interagency Solicitation): Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 - Selected Examples of Funded Projects: • CPS: Medium: Multimodal Sensing for Early Detection and Real-Time Correction of Water Stress and Nutritional Needs in Plants; • CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Closed Loop Sustainable Precision Animal Agriculture; • CPS: Medium: Robust Deep Learning and Decision making for Mechanical Weeding Agbots; • CPS: Medium: Multi-Scale Planning in Robot Teams for Persistent Monitoring and Intervention in Precision Grazing; and • CPS: Medium: SMART IRRIGATION - Big Data approach for accurate water stress detection and precision irrigation in fruit crops. (R) National Robotics Initiative: Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Examples of the funded projects: • NRI: FDN: Machine Vision Robotic Systems for Automated Disassembling Crab Complex Compartments and Extracting Meats Extent Able To Large Scale Food And Post-Harvest Processing; • NRI: INT: Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Robots for Livestock Health Monitoring; and • NRI: INT: Multi-Robot Farming on Marginal, Highly, Sloped Lands. (S) Joint NIFA/NSF Plant and Animal Microbiome – DCL (aka EAGERS): The Fiscal Year 2018 Awards were not finalized. Pertinent details will be provided by Program in FY 2019. (T) NSF-NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions Program (PBI): Below are selected examples of FY 2018 awards: • Analysis and Engineering of Plant Immune Receptors; • Role of Epigenomics and Gene Expression in the Regulation of Immune Responses to White Pine Blister Rust in Sugar Pine; • Susceptibility to Bacterial Leaf Streak Mediated by a Putative Sulfate Transporter in Rice: Mechanism and Intervention; and • Temporal Control of Immunity to Powdery Mildew in Barley. (U) Signals in the Soil (SitS) Program: N/A – Joint program was not funded until FY 2019. The listing below represents AFRI Programs which have not been recently funded. Hence, no further action is required (N/A/N) for the following Programs: (A) Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change; (B) Food Security; (C) Food Safety; (E) Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI); NOTE: Formerly known as AFRI Fellowships. (F) Childhood Obesity Prevention; (H) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (Joint Project with NSF, NIH, USDA and UK BBSRC); (L) International Wheat Yield Partnership; and Integrated Biorefinery Optimization (Joint Project with DOE).
Fiscal Year 2019 Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 – ACTIVE Programs: (D) AFRI: Sustainable Bioenergy: The FY 2017 Sustainable Bioenergy Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP) continued work in FY 2019. • The Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC) is developing a resilient Brassica carinata based biofuel and bioproduct supply chain in the Southeast, from feedstock development to distribution to end user. • The Sustainable Bioeconomy for Arid Regions (SBAR) is a multi-level research project that will cultivate two desert-dwelling crops, guayule and guar, for a sustainable bioeconomy. (G) AFRI: Foundational and Applied Sciences Program: For the FY 2019 award cycle, $192,585,000 will be used to fund applications submitted to the 35 individual programs under AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program solicitation. Currently, programs are either receiving applications or preparing for the review of the submitted applications. Thus, the information will not be available and will be provided in a future date. (I) Joint Plant Feedstock: N/A – Additional funding is not anticipated for this Program. (J) AFRI: Water for Food Production Systems Challenge Area (WFPS): The FY 2019 funding levels were established by Congressional Appropriations. The WFPS Challenge Area was not picked up by USDA-NIFA for funding in 2019. Post-award management was the only activity. No new awards are forthcoming. (M) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS): Fiscal Year (FY) 2019: NIFA is funding four (4) continuations awards for this program. NIFA funded $1.2 million to a university to research reducing resource use at the seafood-energy-water Nexus focusing on reducing waste and water in aquaculture and energy production. A $1.25 million Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) award to a university will support a project conducting research to sustain California's food production through integrated water and energy management. A university received $1.25 million to develop process-based model that support sustainable irrigation across the United States. A university received $1.24 million to develop new photovoltaic chemistry for greenhouse that would collect the wavelengths of light not need for plant production for solar which would heat the greenhouse and recycle water in a closed loop, self-sustaining system. (N) AFRI - Education and Workforce Development (EWD): Once awards are executed, information will be available at https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/agriculture-and-food-research-initiative-food-agriculture-natural-resources. Projects funded will support: • Institutional grants for in-service training, which will provide K-14 teachers and administrators with increased knowledge of food and agricultural science disciplines and career opportunities, and help them to develop improved curricula to enhance agricultural literacy; • Institutional grants that offer curriculum development for industry-based training programs/apprenticeships allowing students to ‘earn while they learn’ and for new job-based, experiential learning opportunities that allow students more time working in job simulation or ‘on-the-job’ training environments. Refreshing existing workforce development curriculum to meet the needs of 21st century agricultural industry at the community/technical college level/. • Institutional grants that offer internships, externships, practicums, global leadership, study abroad, and/or experiential learning opportunities in research and extension, which will help undergraduates develop the critical thinking, problem solving, digital competency, international experiences, and communication skills needed for future employment and/or higher education; • Fellowships for predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars. (O) AFRI - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS): NIFA is currently receiving applications to this program, It is anticipated that this program will receive about 60 applications and NIFA intends to fund nine (9) applications. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (P) Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics Research for Accelerated Animal Breeding (Joint NIH Project) (aka CEG): This program did not make new awards based on panel rankings. (Q) Cyber-Physical System Program (Interagency Solicitation): Panel is scheduled and thus, there are no grant selections as yet. The Fiscal Year 2019 Awards have not yet been finalized. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (R) National Robotics Initiative: Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 - Examples of the funded projects: • NRI: INT: COLLAB: Rumen Understanding through Millipede-Engineered Navigation and Sensing (RUMENS); • NRI:INT: Multipurpose Dexterous Soft and Continuum Arms for Compact Ag-bots; • NRI: INT: COLLAB: An autonomous insect Sense, Identify, and Manage PLatform (SIMPL) to advance crop protection strategies; • NRI: INT: COLLAB: Collaborative Autonomy and Safety for Teamed Human-Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Fast Evolving Wildfire Environment; and • NRI: INT: Hybrid Aerial/Underwater Robotic System (HAUCS) for Scalable, Adaptable Maintenance of Aquaculture Fish Farms. (S) Joint NIFA/NSF Plant and Animal Microbiome – DCL (aka EAGERS): Fiscal Year (FY) 2019: Ten (10) projects have been awarded by NIFA in crop breeding. The following are selected examples of funded projects: • Breaking the wheat domestication bottleneck by interploidy hybridization. • Utilizing high throughtput phenotyping approaches to advance plant breeding. • Epi-TOM: The development and characterization of an EpiRIL TOMatopopulation. • Pathway to the Exploitation of Epigenetic Variation in UK, US and International Breeding Programmes. • Unified Big Data in Genomics and Phenomics for Plant Breeding. (T) NSF-NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions Program (PBI): NIFA anticipates that the funding available for the NSF-NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions Program in FY 2019 will be $7 million. (U) Signals in the Soil (SitS) Program: 1. Detecting soil degradation and restoration through a novel coupled sensor and machine learning framework 2. Dynamic coupling of soil structure and gas fluxes measured with distributed sensor systems: implications for carbon monitoring The listing below represents AFRI Programs which have not been recently funded. Hence, no further action is required (N/A/N) for the following Programs: (A) Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change; (B) Food Security; (C) Food Safety; (E) Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI); NOTE: Formerly known as AFRI Fellowships. (F) Childhood Obesity Prevention; (H) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (Joint Project with NSF, NIH, USDA and UK BBSRC); (L) International Wheat Yield Partnership; and Integrated Biorefinery Optimization (Joint Project with DOE).
Fiscal Year 2020 Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 – ACTIVE Programs: (D) AFRI: Sustainable Bioenergy: N/A – Additional funding is not anticipated for this Program. (G) AFRI: Foundational and Applied Sciences Program: Information is not yet available for FY 2020. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (I) Joint Plant Feedstock: N/A – Additional funding is not anticipated for this Program. (J) AFRI: Water for Food Production Systems Challenge Area (WFPS): The FY 2020 funding levels have not yet been established by Congressional Appropriations. If this Program is supported by the Agency and funded in FY 2020, it is projected that the funding level would be comparable and the types of projects will be similar. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (M) Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS): NIFA will provide continuation funding to the FY 2019 projects. Four (4) projects totaling $5 million. (N) AFRI - Education and Workforce Development (EWD): Data is not yet available. Pertinent details to be provided by program at a future date. (O) AFRI - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS): Information is not yet available for FY 2020. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (P) Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics Research for Accelerated Animal Breeding (Joint NIH Project) (aka CEG): It is projected that the program will make up to two (2) awards in the area of comparative genomics through identification of genome regions responsible for the traits related to animal health, nutrition, reproduction, and welfare. Pertinent data will be provided by Program at a future date. (Q) Cyber-Physical System Program (Interagency Solicitation): The FY 2020 funding levels have not yet been established by Congressional Appropriations. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (R) National Robotics Initiative: The FY 2020 funding levels have not yet been established by Congressional Appropriations. Pertinent details will be provided by Program at a future date. (S) Joint NIFA/NSF Plant and Animal Microbiome – DCL (aka EAGERS): This program is sunset in FY 2020. Thus, no information is available. Pertinent information will be provided by Program at a future date. (T) NSF-NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions Program (PBI): NIFA projects that the funding available for the NSF-NIFA Plant Biotic Interactions Program in FY 2020 will be $8 million. (U) Signals in the Soil (SitS) Program: It is anticipated that NIFA will support funding for three (3) awards. The listing below represents AFRI Programs which have not been recently funded. Hence, no further action is required (N/A/N) for the following Programs: (A) Agricultural and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change; (B) Food Security; (C) Food Safety; (E) Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI); NOTE: Formerly known as AFRI Fellowships. (F) Childhood Obesity Prevention; (H) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (Joint Project with NSF, NIH, USDA and UK BBSRC); (L) International Wheat Yield Partnership; and Integrated Biorefinery Optimization (Joint Project with DOE).
Fiscal Year 2023 Pertinent Information will be provided by Program at a future date.