1. AFRI Integrated
Programs

2. Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Integrated Programs
Mark A. Mirando, Ph.D.
National Program Leader,
AFRI Science Coordinator

3. Outline Brief Overview of NIFA Organization of AFRI
Foundational Program
Fellowship Grants Program
Challenge Area Program
FASE and EPSCOR
Question and Answer Session

4. Overview of NIFA Organizational Structure: Office of the Director
4 Programmatic Institutes - Institute of…
Food Production and Sustainability
Food Safety and Nutrition
Bioenergy, Climate, and the Environment
Youth, Family, and Community

5. Overview of NIFA Organizational Structure:
Office of Information Technology
Office of Communications
Budget Office
Equal Opportunity Office

6. Overview of NIFA Organizational Structure:
Center for International Programs
Office of Grants and Financial Management
Planning, Accountability, and Reporting

7. Organization of AFRI Aligned with the 6 Farm Bill priorities
8 Requests for Applications (RFAs)
Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) RFA
Foundational Program RFA
6 Challenge Area RFAs

8. AFRI Foundational Program versus Challenge Areas
Mostly single function research
Mostly fundamental research
Don’t change markedly from year to year
Smaller grant size, $500,000 maximum
Individual investigators or small teams

9. AFRI Foundational Program versus Challenge Areas
Mostly integrated programs
Research component is more applied
Often change markedly from year to year
Larger grant size, typically >$1 million
Multiple investigators or large teams

10. Integrated Research, Education, and Extension
What is “integration”?
To bring the 3 components of the agricultural knowledge system (research, education, and extension) around a problem area or issue

11. Integrated Research, Education, and Extension
What is “integration”?
At least 2 of the 3 components required, sometimes all 3 components required
Extension and/or education components are not simply and “add-on”
Components are integrated, not easily separated
Components complement one another and necessary for success of project

12. Integration in AFRI Often an extension component is required
RFAs sometimes call for projects to be extension driven
Frequently require social science
Behavior modification or assessment
Economic evaluation or modeling
≤ 67% of budget to one component with
≥ 33% to remaining component(s)

13. AFRI Foundational Program: Program Areas aligned with Farm Bill Priorities
Plant health and production, plant products
Animal health and production, animal products
Food safety, nutrition, and health
Bioenergy, natural resources, environment
Agriculture systems and technology
Agriculture economics and rural communities

14. AFRI Foundational Program: FY 2015 Program Area Priorities
Agriculture economics and rural communities
- 4 program area priorities:
Economics, Markets and Trade
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
Small and Medium-Sized Farms
Innovation for Rural Entrepreneurship and Communities

15. Newer Program Area Initiatives
Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARE) – local, regional, or national projects to yield solutions quickly that can be rapidly implemented by producers
Exploratory – innovative ideas not addressed previously; focus on food security, climate change, environmental quality and natural resources, nutrition, obesity, and food safety

16. Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) (formerly Fellowships Grant Program)
Postdoctoral fellowships – individual applies
Predoctoral fellowships – individual applies
Undergraduate research and extension experiential learning fellowships – institution applies for a group of fellowships

17. AFRI Challenge Areas Childhood Obesity Prevention
Agriculture and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change
Food Safety
Food Security
Sustainable Bioenergy
Water for Agriculture

18. FASE Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement;
Help institutions develop competitive projects, and to attract new scientists and educators into careers in high-priority areas of agriculture, food, and environmental sciences.
Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships, New Investigators, and Strengthening Grants have specific eligibility requirements, see RFAs for details.

19. General Advice to Applicants
Read the RFA
Program focus and priorities
Project and grant types, eligibility restrictions
Budget limitations
Application format, submission guidelines
Submission deadlines
Evaluation (review) criteria
Program contact information

20. General Advice to Applicants
Communicate directly with the program contact with questions, as needed
Program contact information listed in RFA
Read the RFA first

21. Questions and Answers AFRI Coordinators
Mark Mirando, ,
and
Effie Baldwin, ,