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Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is the nation’s leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences. 

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awards AFRI research, education, and extension grants to improve rural economies, increase food production, stimulate the bioeconomy, mitigate impacts of climate variability, address water availability issues, ensure food safety and security, enhance human nutrition, and train the next generation of the agricultural workforce.

AFRI was established by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill and re-authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill. The program was re-authorized to be funded at $700 million a year. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 funds AFRI at $455 million.

NIFA provides AFRI grants to support research, education and extension activities in six Farm Bill priority areas:

  • Plant Health and Production and Plant Products;
  • Animal Health and Production and Animal Products;
  • Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health;
  • Bioenergy, Natural resources, and Environment;
  • Agriculture Systems and Technology;
  • and Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities.

AFRI-funded science is vital to meeting food, fiber, and fuel demands as the world’s population races toward a projected 10 billion by 2050 concomitant with diminishing land and water resources and increasingly variable climatic conditions. In addition, AFRI programs help develop new technologies and a workforce that will advance our national security, our energy self-sufficiency, and the health of Americans.

NIFA’s policies for accepting late applications are available at https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/late-application-consideration.  If your application is delayed for a valid extenuating circumstances, please let the program contact listed in the Request for Application (RFA) know about the potential delay and submit all the required documentation after your application had been submitted to us.  NIFA will consider your request at that time based on the information provided.

Funding Portfolio

NIFA’s AFRI funding portfolio includes both single- and multi-function research, education, and extension grants that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance. AFRI-funded projects sustain all components of agriculture, including farm efficiency and profitability, ranching, renewable energy, forestry (both urban and agroforestry), aquaculture, rural communities and entrepreneurship, human nutrition, food safety, biotechnology, and conventional breeding. These projects also create jobs and help develop the next generation of agriculture and food scientists.

AFRI-funded integrated projects must include at least two of the three functions of agriculture knowledge – research, education, and extension – to ensure delivery of science-based knowledge to people, allowing them to make informed practical decisions.

In addition to Standard grants, the AFRI portfolio includes Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP) and Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) grants. CAP grants are large, multi-million dollar projects that often involve multiple institutions. FASE grants help institutions become more competitive and attract new scientists and educators to careers in high-priority areas of agriculture.

Grants

NIFA makes grants for high priority research, education, and extension, taking into consideration the determinations made by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board.

Subject to the availability of appropriations to carry out the AFRI program, the Secretary may award grants to state agricultural experiment stations; colleges (including community colleges) and universities; university research foundations; other research institutions and organizations; federal agencies; national laboratories; private organizations or corporations; individuals; or any group consisting of two or more of the aforementioned entities.

Each grant program has its own unique set of requirements, the details of which are available within specific Requests for Applications in Part I, C. See the list of available AFRI RFAs.

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