Commodity Boards

The Farm Bill allows eligible national and state commodity boards to propose topics for research and outreach that they are willing to equally co-fund with NIFA through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (AFRI).

Federal Register Notice: “Solicitation of Commodity Board Topics and Contribution of Funding Under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program,” was published January 4, 2021. This notice invites topic submissions from eligible commodity boards, outlines the process NIFA will use to evaluate the appropriateness of these topics for inclusion in AFRI Requests for Applications (RFAs); and describes the commitment commodity boards will be required to make regarding jointly-funded AFRI applications selected for an award.

Eligible commodity boards are those which address an agricultural commodity and:

• include a combination of promotion, research, industry information, or consumer information activities;
• are funded by mandatory assessments on producers or processors; and
• are designed to maintain or expand markets and uses for the commodity (as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture).

Proposed topics must relate to the established AFRI priority areas to be considered for inclusion in future AFRI Requests for Applications (RFAs). The established AFRI priority areas, are 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.

Questions may be submitted to commodityboards@usda.gov.

Resources

General Information

• Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Program Information
• The Final Rule for AFRI Commodity Board Provision
• 2016 Commodity Boards Webinar
• FY 2016 Awards Co-funded by NIFA and Commodity Boards
• Frequently Asked Questions

Topic Submission Resources

• Federal Register Notice, “Solicitation of Commodity Board Topics and Contribution of Funding Under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program”
• List of Eligible Commodity Boards and Procedure to Request Eligibility
• Approximate Timeline for FY 2021 AFRI Program
• List of AFRI Program Areas, Funding Levels and Award Durations
• Topic Submission Form