Food for Progress

In order to use the food resources of the United States more effectively in support of developing countries, and countries that are emerging democracies that have made commitments to introduce or expand free enterprise elements in their agricultural economies through changes in commodity pricing, marketing, input availability, distribution, and private sector involvement, Food for Progress (FFPr) furnishes agricultural commodities to those countries, which are then sold. The proceeds from those sales is used to provide technical assistance intended to improve agricultural productivity in those countries, and to expand trade of agricultural products to, from, and within those countries.

Program effectiveness is tracked against 24 standard indicators relating to increased agricultural productivity, improved land and water resource quality, use of financial services, institutional capacity, leverage of private sector resources, post-harvest infrastructure, and expansion of agricultural trade.

An intergovernmental organization, a private voluntary organization, a nonprofit agricultural organization or cooperative, a nongovernmental organization, a college or university in the United States (as defined by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Act of 1977), or any other private entity.

The Food for Progress programs focuses on developing countries and emerging democracies that are committed to introducing or expanding free enterprise in their agricultural economies.

FAS will assemble a panel committee consisting of technical reviewers and scorers to review applications for each individual Funding Opportunity or Track. This panel may include both Federal and non-Federal persons. The panel committee will review the programmatic merits of the applications based on the evaluation criteria identified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Following panel committee review, technical reviewer and scorers who participated on the panel committee will provide summary comments, scorers and funding recommendations on the application. The FAS Administrator will make the final selection of applications to approve for funding. The FAS Administrator will give serious consideration to recommendations from IFAD and the panel committees, but may also consider the following factors in making the award selections: Agency priorities, such as achieving greater geographical dispersion, program balance, or diversity; and the gency’s alignment within USG’s whole of government approach to agricultural
development and innovation, as determined by USDA.