The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced $6.3 million in available funding for projects to support resilient agriculture and forestry production systems. Funding is made through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
“It’s important that we work toward ensuring a safe, sustainable food supply in the face of shifting climate patterns,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “These investments will help provide agricultural and forestry producers, land managers, and other decision makers with valuable tools to help them address the challenges ahead.”
AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants programs for addressing critical societal issues through the food and agricultural sciences. The long-term goal of the AFRI Resilient Agroecosystems and Climate Challenge Area is to improve sustainable agriculture and food systems. In FY 2017, this Challenge Area will invest in one priority area: climate, land use, and land management. Projects may investigate the consequences of land-use changes, such as increased productivity, greenhouse gas emissions and/or other climate feedbacks. Projects may look at how agricultural and forestry systems responds to these changes. Projects may also study the social, political, and economic factors that influence land management.
Applications may only be submitted by eligible entities. Eligibility is linked to the project type.
The deadline for applications is July 13, 2017.
See the request for applications for details.
To date, NIFA has invested more than $160 million through this AFRI Challenge Area. Among previously funded projects, The Sustainable Corn.org project gathered data from 35 field sites and thousands of farmers in nine Midwestern states to create resources that ensure productivity under uncertain climate conditions. The five-year PINEMAP program developed best practices for sustainable pine forest management in the Southeastern United States, a region that produces 16 percent of global industrial wood.
NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA support for the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel has resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that combat childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate climate variability, and ensure food safety. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.