US Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Specific Requirements & Advice

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USDA Research and Development Priorities, 2026

 

Grants Modernization Initiative

NIFA announced that 9 programs will be transitioning new Funding Opportunity Announcements to the eRA grants management system in Fiscal Year 2026:
• Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI)
• Equipment Grants Program (EGP)
• Farm Business and Benchmarking Program (FBMB)
• Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP)
• Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative (OREI)
• Renewable Resource Extension Act National Focus Fund Program (REEA-NFF)
• Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants Program (SPECA)
• Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP)

Other programs will follow as the Grants Modernization Initiative continues.


Proposers will need to have an eRA Commons profile that links to their current institution. 
Applications are still submitted through Grants.gov, but there are important steps to take in eRA Commons before you apply:

  • Confirm early that your PD/PI and all Senior/Key Personnel (including project partners and collaborators) have active accounts as these individuals must be listed on the application.
  • Only your Signing Officialcan create an account for you. We recommend you initiate account creation quickly.
  • Your organization must be registered in eRA Commons.

Please note: Applications will be rejected if your account is inactive; if your Senior/Key Personnel’s eRA Commons usernames are missing from the application; or if the organization’s UEI doesn’t match the one used to register in eRA Commons.


 

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

» Link to RFA
» Link to Grants.gov application package

AFRI Request for Applications Resources
» Grant & Project Types
» Letter of Intent (LOI) Instructions
» Additional Information for Part IV,C
   - Foundational & Applied Science Program RFA
   - Education and Workforce Development RFA
   - Sustainable Agricultural Systems RFA
» Data Management Plan Instructions & FAQs
» Application Review Criteria
» AFRI New Investigator Decision Tree
 

 

NIFA Advice and Info

» Project Summary/Abstract
» Conflict of Interest
» USDA now requires the use of the Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) system to generate 
   Common Forms for the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support documents. 
       > Free-form versions of these documents will not be accepted. 
       > SciENcv produces USDA-compliant Common Forms that must be certified and submitted as PDF 
          attachments with the application.
       > Overview with hints
 
Data Management Plans:  DMPTool
 

 

 

For other resources, see  RD Digital Library >> USDA -- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 

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