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2023 Cochran Fellowship Program – MSI (US)

Deadline: 31-Jul-23

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Fellowship Programs, announces this funding opportunity to support the Cochran Fellowship Program (CFP) by issuing new awards.

This opportunity is available to Minority Serving Institutions. This program is intended to support improved understanding of the principles of urban agriculture among program participants.

The objective of this program is to educate Fellows on best practices within urban agriculture, including community building to increase global food security. The goal of this program is to increase these countries’ capacity for agricultural research, extension, and participation in international trade.

Objectives
  • The recipient will ensure that the Fellows improve their knowledge in the following areas:
    • Community building, engagement, education, and extension service creation emphasizing marginalized and underserved communities.
    • Innovative growing techniques, such as vertical, hydroponic, aeroponic, raised beds, rooftop, permaculture, agroforests, indoor growing, green walls, and intensive growing.
    • Community garden creation, regulations, and bylaws.
    • Accessible gardens for all people; wheelchairs, children, and elderly populations.
    • Nutrition of urban gardens; how to ensure production is balanced and how to teach nutrition to a diverse audience.
    • Soil testing, building productive growth mediums, and composting.
    • Marketing of produce including food processing when appropriate.
    • Farmers market creation, regulations, and bylaws.
    • School gardens, working with children, science and technology-based lens of agriculture.
    • Small animal production in urban settings, including waste management.
    • Water management; irrigation, rain collection, water quality management, and testing.
    • Pest management; identification and irradiation.
    • Apiculture; for improved production, honey, and sustainability.
    • Climate resilient practices to increase production and to create oases within urban settings.
Scope
  • The Cochran Fellowship Program intends to support the design and delivery of a training program of 1-2 consecutive weeks duration, to take place in either calendar year 2023 or 2024 depending on availability of all parties, for 12 Fellows from multiple countries. More than one such program may be supported.
  • The training program should educate the Fellows on how to implement practices that support urban agriculture. It has been forecasted that half of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the second half of the 21st century; therefore, it will be necessary to grow more food in non-traditional agricultural areas where the population resides. As urban agriculture is an important part of food security and sovereignty for many populations, sharing techniques with those who rely on this form of agriculture is vital to ensuring these needs are met.
  • The objective of this program is to educate Fellows on best practices within urban agriculture, including community building to increase global food security. The goal of this program is to increase these countries’ capacity for agricultural research, extension, and participation in international trade.
  • The applicant shall propose the place(s) of performance in their Technical Proposal.
Funding Information
  • Total Available Federal Funding: Up to $300,000 total, up to $150,000 per award.
  • Projected Period of Performance Start: September 1, 2023
  • Projected Period of Performance End: August 31, 2024.
Eligibility Criteria
  • State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States, as defined at 7 USC 3103, which qualify as any one of the following:
    • Historically Black Colleges and Universities;
    • Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs);
    • Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs);
    • Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions; (AANAPISIs);
    • Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs).
  • All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management before the application submission deadline of the announcement; applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible. Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered.

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