Deadline: 27-Apr-23
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) requests applications for the Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – ORG for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 funding cycle to solve critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems.
Priorities
- Priority 1: Document and understand the effects of organic practices on soil health and fertility; greenhouse gas mitigation; enhanced biodiversity; and understanding of weeds, pests and diseases dynamics for better management to help systems adapt to climate change, build resilience of the organic farming system, protect water and other resources, and provide other ecosystem services. These practices include but are not limited to crop rotation; livestock feeding and management; livestock-crop system integration; organic manure, mulch, and/or compost additions; cover crops; and reduced or conservation tillage.
- Priority 2: Develop improved technologies, methods, models, and metrics to document, describe, and optimize the ecosystem services and the climate change adaptation and mitigation ability of organic crop, livestock, and integrated crop-livestock production systems.
- Priority 3: Develop cultural practices and other allowable alternatives to substances recommended for removal from NOP’s National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. This may include effective substitutes or new technologies, cultural practices, cultivars, or breeds that render the NOP-cited substance in question less limiting to production under organic standards. Studies of alternatives should include evaluation of efficacy based on resulting productivity, profitability, climate change adaptation, and natural resources stewardship effects. They encourage a sustainable whole-systems approach but will also consider proposals that are narrower in scope.
- Priority 4: Overcome barriers to organic transition. Projects under this priority should address major barriers that limit the transition to organic agriculture in a specific region, crop, or animal production system and develop practical information and tools for producer use. These can include, but are not limited to, production challenges during the transition period, local and regional infrastructure constraints, marketplace challenges, disruptive conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic, and administrative or policy barriers. Any constraint must be acknowledged by growers and other stakeholders. Proposals to improve organic animal or crop production management strategies and production systems should be submitted to the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI). Lobbying and advocacy activities are not allowed.
Funding Information
- The amount available for ORG in FY 2023 is approximately $7,500,000. USDA is not committed to fund any particular application or to make a specific number of awards.
- Grant Duration: Up to 4 years
- Anticipated of Awards: 8
- Maximum Award Amount: $1,000,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility Requirements Applications may only be submitted by colleges and universities, as defined in 7 U.S.C. 3103, 1994 Institutions, and Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities. Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration or, even though an application may be reviewed, will preclude NIFA from making an award.
- State agricultural experiment stations.
- Colleges and universities.
- University research foundations.
- Other research institutions and organizations.
- Federal agencies.
- National laboratories.
- Private organizations, foundations, or corporations.
- Individuals; or
- Any group consisting of two or more of the entities described in (1) through (8)
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
