Dear Colleagues,

USDA NIFA has recently announced an opportunity for Sustainable Agricultural Systems awarding $10M per project.  The amount available for new grants in this FY 2019 SAS RFA is $90 million. 

Applications to the FY 2019 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system within the next 25 years. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach, and that will significantly improve the supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food, while providing sustainable opportunities for expansion of the bioeconomy through novel animal, crop, and forest products and supporting technologies. These approaches must demonstrate current and future social, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed must result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption.

Applications must address one or more of the following long-term goals:

• Increase profitability in agriculture by reducing input use, expanding existing and creating new markets, increasing productivity, and curbing production losses due to environmental and biological stresses, including pests and diseases.
• Foster economic development and prosperity in rural America by catalyzing the bioeconomy through value added innovation, including production of high-value bio-based chemicals and other products using agricultural feedstocks.
• Enhance the contribution of food and agriculture to health of the nation through development, adoption, and application of new or existing technologies, tools, education, and other resources to ensure access to sufficient quantities of safe, nutritious, and affordable food.

The funds will be awarded for a performance period of up to five years.

Submission of an LOI prior to the LOI deadline is required for submission of a full proposal. LOIs must include: (1) description of the goal deliverables addressed by the project, including short, medium, and long-term objectives within the “specific objectives”; (2) description of the scope of systems and justification of components under investigation within the “approach” section of the LOI; (3) clear descriptions and justification of the methods for the integrated and transdisciplinary approach to be used to achieve the desired goal(s) also within the “approach” section of the LOI; and (4) description of the benefits to the food and agricultural system within the “potential impact and expected outcomes” of the LOI.  Full proposals that are submitted that did not submit a LOI will not be reviewed.  The LOI submission should be directed to AFRI-SAS@nifa.usda.gov by the deadline of June 4, 2019. 

If you are interested in submitting an application, please contact the Vanity Campbell, Office of Contracts and Grants at vcampbell@ucanr.edu to request proposal development assistance.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)