Integrated Programs

SEVERAL PROGRAMS ARE FUNDED UNDER AL 10.303. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE AS FOLLOWS: (1) Integrated Research, Education, and Extension/outreach Competitive Grants Program: See NOFO for priority areas. (2) Integrated Research, Education, and Extension/outreach Competitive Grants Program: National Integrated Food Safety Initiative. The purpose of the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative is to support food safety projects that demonstrate an integrated approach to solving problems in applied food safety research, education, or extension. Various models for integration of applied research, education, and extension will be considered for funding. Applications describing multistate, multi-institutional, multidisciplinary, and multifunctional activities (and combinations thereof) are encouraged. Applicants are strongly encouraged to address at least two of the three functional areas of research, education, and extension (i.e., research and extension, research and education, or extension and education). (3) Integrated Research, Education, And Extension/outreach Competitive Grants Program: (4) Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program: Methyl Bromide Transitions Program The goal of the Methyl Bromide Transitions (MBT) program is to support the discovery and implementation of practical pest management alternatives to methyl bromide uses or minimize methyl bromide emissions for which the United States is requesting critical use exemptions. The program focuses on integrated commercial- or field-scale research that targets short- to medium-term solutions. (5) Integrated Organic Program The purpose of the Integrated Organic Program is to solve critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems through the integration of research, education, and extension activities. The Organic Transitions Program (ORG) funds the development and implementation of research, extension, and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic producers and producers who are adopting organic practices.

State agricultural experiment stations, State cooperative extension services, all colleges and universities, other research and extension institutions and organizations, Federal agencies, private organizations or corporations, and individuals to facilitate or expand promising breakthroughs in areas of the food and agricultural sciences of importance to the United States.

Applications are subjected to a system of peer and merit review in accordance with section 103 of the Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7613) by a panel of qualified scientists and other appropriate persons who are specialists in the field covered by the proposal. Within the limit of funds available for such purpose, the NIFA Authorized Departmental Officer (ADO) shall make grants to those responsible, eligible applicants whose applications are judged most meritorious under the procedures set forth in the NOFO .

Reviewers will be selected based upon training and experience in relevant scientific, extension, or education fields, taking into account the following factors:

(a) The level of relevant formal scientific, technical education, or extension experience of the individual, as well as the extent to which an individual is engaged in relevant research, education, or extension activities;
(b) the need to include as reviewers experts from various areas of specialization within relevant scientific, education, or extension fields;
(c) the need to include as reviewers other experts (e.g., producers, range or forest managers/operators, and consumers) who can assess relevance of the applications to targeted audiences and to program needs;
(d) the need to include as reviewers experts from a variety of organizational types (e.g., colleges, universities, industry, state and Federal agencies, private profit and non-profit organizations) and geographic locations;
(e) the need to maintain a balanced composition of reviewers with regard to minority and female representation and an equitable age distribution; and
(f) the need to include reviewers who can judge the effective usefulness to producers and the general public of each application.

Evaluation Criteria will be delineated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

2 CFR 200 – Subpart C and Appendix I and 2 CFR part 400 apply to this Program.

From 30 to 60 days.

Contact the National Program Leader (NPL), regarding dates for specific deadlines, start and end dates, and range of approval/disapproval time.

Information is also available via our website and may be obtained via the Grants.gov website. NIFA’s respective links regarding general information are provided below:
http://nifa.usda.gov/
http://www.grants.gov.

SPECIAL NOTE:
Please refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for further specific and pertinent details. The most current NOFO is available via:

Methyl Bromide Transition Program (MBT):
https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/methyl-bromide-transition

Organic Transition-Risk Assessment (ORG):
https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/organic-transitions-org

NOFOs are generally released annually. Hence, the NOFOs provide the most current and accurate information available. Any specific instructions in the Competitive NOFOs supersede the general information provided in the CFDA database.