Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 007952
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Pre-Applications opportunity is a discretionary grant program run by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under CFDA 10.309. Its goal is to fund research and extension work that directly tackles high-priority, real-world needs in the specialty crop sector, with an emphasis on problems that matter at a national scale or across multiple states and regions. The program is designed to strengthen the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of specialty crops across the full food and agriculture system, and it explicitly applies to both conventional and organic production systems. The funding opportunity number for this solicitation is USDA NIFA SCRI 007952, and it was created on November 19, 2020, with an original pre-application closing date of January 26, 2021. The listed award ceiling is up to $8,000,000 per award, signaling that this competition is intended to support large, coordinated efforts rather than small, isolated projects.
Projects submitted under SCRI must align with at least one of five required focus areas. First, the program supports plant breeding and related sciences such as genetics and genomics, along with other approaches that improve crop characteristics, which can include traits tied to yield, quality, resilience, storage life, or other industry-relevant performance outcomes. Second, SCRI prioritizes work that identifies and addresses threats from pests and diseases, including threats affecting specialty crop pollinators, reflecting the importance of pollination services and the ongoing pressure from invasive pests, emerging pathogens, and shifting pest dynamics. Third, the program funds efforts to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, overall productivity, and long-term profitability, and it notes that this area can also include specialty crop policy and marketing topics when they are tied to durable improvements in the sector. Fourth, SCRI encourages new innovations and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening, which speaks to challenges like labor constraints, postharvest losses, and the need for better tools from field to supply chain. Fifth, the program supports methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production, handling, and processing of specialty crops, reinforcing the importance of practical systems that reduce contamination risk and protect public health while remaining workable for growers and processors.
Eligibility for pre-applications is broad but defined. Pre-applications may be submitted by Federal agencies, national laboratories, colleges and universities, research institutions and organizations, private organizations or corporations, State Agricultural Experiment Stations, individuals, or collaborative groups made up of two or more of these entity types. In other words, the program is open to public, private, and mixed partnerships, including multi-organization teams, which fits the program’s emphasis on regional or multi-state impact and integrated research-extension approaches. NIFA also highlights that applicants who are new to federal financial assistance can use resources on its grants overview page, including free Grants 101 training and related guidance, which is meant to help prospective applicants understand federal award requirements and improve the quality and compliance of submissions.
Overall, SCRI Pre-Applications is a high-impact USDA/NIFA funding opportunity aimed at advancing specialty crops through large-scale, strategically aligned projects that blend research and extension to solve pressing challenges in crop improvement, pest and disease management (including pollinator protection), production and postharvest efficiency, innovation and mechanization (including ripening control), and food safety across the specialty crop supply chain.Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 007952
- The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Pre-Applications" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.309.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2020-11-19.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-01-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $8,000,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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