Deadline: 23-Mar-23
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking applications for Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative Extension Disaster Education Network to support the resilience of the U.S. food and agriculture sector to biosecurity risks, extreme weather events and disasters, cyber threats, and other shocks.
It is necessary to mitigate threats to sustain the overall competitiveness of U.S. agriculture to maintain an abundant food supply for people and livestock, to support the farmers, ranchers and workers who drive the U.S. food and agriculture sector, and to sustain the vitality of rural communities, rural and urban agriculture infrastructure, and agricultural businesses.
The primary focus of the FADI-EDEN program is to help form sustainable efforts to enhance the biosecurity of the U.S. food and agriculture sector through extension activities. The purpose of this program is to enhance and expand the Cooperative Extension System’s outreach activities with a focus on biosecurity before, during, and after disasters using the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Response Framework. The framework is designed to help jurisdictions, people, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses develop whole community plans; integrate continuity plans; build capabilities to respond to cascading failures among businesses, supply chains, and infrastructure sectors; and collaborate to stabilize community lifelines and restore services. The framework established an “all-hazards” approach to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents which includes homeland security processes for disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.
Purpose and Priorities
- The goal of the Food and Agriculture Defense Initiative Extension Disaster Education Network (FADI-EDEN) program, under assistance listing, is to maximize the resilience of the U.S. food and agriculture sector to biosecurity risks, extreme weather events and disasters, cyber threats, and other shocks. It is necessary to mitigate threats to sustain the overall competitiveness of U.S. agriculture to maintain an abundant food supply for people and livestock; to support the farmers, ranchers, and workers who drive the U.S. food and agriculture sector; and to sustain the vitality of rural communities, rural and urban agriculture infrastructure, and agricultural businesses.
- The FADI-EDEN program is aligned with the following:
- Combat Climate Change to Support America’s Working Lands, Natural Resources, and Communities
- Ensure America’s Agricultural System is Equitable, Resilient, and Prosperous
- Expand Opportunities for Economic Development and Improve Quality of Life in Rural and Tribal Communities.
Priorities
- The FADI-EDEN program will fund one Extension project that will address the following priorities:
- Foster interdisciplinary and multi-state education and outreach programs by addressing phases of biosecurity disasters and extreme weather events and disasters and actions carried out by cyber threat actors that can escalate biosecurity risks. Education and outreach activities include trainings, exercises, and curriculum or resource development.
- Build and/or enhance strategic partnerships with local, state, and federal agencies, organizations, and networks within the realms of biosecurity and disasters that include but are not limited to the National Animal Health Laboratory (NAHLN); the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN); Federal Emergency Support Function #11/USDA APHIS, and the Food & Agriculture Sector Councils. Identify ways to incorporate Cooperative Extension into response frameworks at the local, state, and national levels.
- Support collaboration among state Cooperative Extension organizations by providing strategic administrative leadership to improve information exchange and outreach opportunities focused on disasters within the Network. Engage with the 1890 EDEN advisory group, 1994 Tribal Colleges and universities, and Sea Grant institutions.
- Facilitate coordination within the Network, including with the EDEN officers, EDEN executive committee, and USDA NIFA, to support, where appropriate, operations and the Network’s 2023-2025 strategic plan, programmatic goals, impact reporting, and incident response. Develop and sustain methods that include a Network website to communicate with stakeholders and increase their awareness about the Network and provide educational resources to Cooperative Extension organizations and stakeholders.
Funding Information
- The amount available for the FADI-EDEN program in FY 2023 is approximately $382,400, with an annual renewal for a total of four years (FY 2024, FY 2025, and FY 2026) based on availability of funding in subsequent years and satisfactory performance of the project.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants for the FADI-EDEN program must meet. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or, preclude NIFA from making an award.
- In accordance with section 1472(c) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (NARETPA), applicants may be: State agricultural experiment stations, State cooperative extension services, all colleges and universities, other research or education institutions and organizations, Federal and private agencies and organizations, individuals, and any other contractor or recipient, either foreign or domestic, to further research, extension, or teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences of the Department of Agriculture. 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.
- Duplicate or Multiple Submissions – submissions of duplicate or predominantly overlapping applications is not allowed. NIFA will disqualify both applications if an applicant submits multiple applications that are duplicative or substantially overlapping to NIFA programs within the same fiscal year.
- For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s Grants Overview provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.