USDA-NIFA: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – Food Safety Challenge Area

Deadline: 21 June 2017

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is currently seeking applications for its “Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) – Food Safety Challenge Area” to promote and enhance the scientific discipline of food safety, with an overall aim of protecting consumers from microbial and chemical contaminants that may occur during all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption.

The purpose of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is to support research, education, and extension work by awarding grants to solve key problems of local, regional, national, and global importance in sustaining conventional, organic, and urban agricultural systems. These include farm efficiency, profitability and sustainability, ranching, bioenergy, forestry, aquaculture, rural communities and entrepreneurship, human nutrition, mitigating impacts of biotic and abiotic constraints on food production, food safety, mitigating food waste and food loss, physical and social sciences, home economics and rural human ecology, biotechnology, and classical breeding.

Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding: $11,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants for single-function Research, Education or Extension Projects include:
- State Agricultural Experiment Station
- colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher)
- university research foundations
- other research institutions and organizations
- Federal agencies
- National laboratories
- private organizations or corporations
- individuals who are U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents
- Eligible institutions do not include foreign and international organizations.
Eligible applicants for Integrated Projects include:
- colleges and universities
- 1994 Land-Grant Institutions
- Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities