NIFA Plans to Release Agriculture and Food Research Initiative RFA in February
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) expects to release its request for applications (RFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) no later than mid-February 2010 and will commit up to $800 million in funding for new grants, contingent on annual appropriations in following years.
AFRI is NIFA’s flagship competitive grant program and was established under section 7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, otherwise known as the 2008 Farm Bill. AFRI will support work in the following priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; renewable energy, natural resources, and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. Programs focused on these areas will use a disciplinary-based approach to building a foundation of knowledge critical for solving current and future problems.
Within these priority areas, AFRI will support interdisciplinary, multi-functional projects in five “societal challenge” areas to achieve significant and measurable outcomes and achieving goals. The five goals include:
1. Keep American agriculture competitive while ending world hunger
2. Improve nutrition and end child obesity
3. Improve food safety for all Americans
