[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31224-31226]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11705]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Solicitation of Commodity Board Topics and Contribution of
Funding Under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive
Grants Program
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity for commodity boards to submit topics and
contribute funding under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
Competitive Grants Program.
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SUMMARY: As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's
(NIFA) strategy to implement section 7404 of Public Law 113-79, the
Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting topics from eligible
commodity board entities (Federal and State-level commodity boards, as
defined below) which they are willing to equally co-fund with NIFA.
Such topics must relate to the established priority areas of the
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program
(AFRI) to be considered for inclusion in future AFRI Requests for
Applications (RFAs).
Commodity boards are those entities established under a commodity
promotion law (as such term is defined under section 501(a) of the
Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C.
7401(a)) or a State commodity board (or other equivalent State entity).
See the ``Supplementary Information'' section of this Notice under the
heading ``Eligibility for Submitting Topics'' for further information.
If proposed topics are accepted for inclusion in an AFRI RFA after
evaluation by NIFA, they will be incorporated into AFRI competitive
grants program RFAs. As a condition of funding grants in a topic, NIFA
will require an agreement with the commodity board to provide funds
that are equal to the amount NIFA is contributing under the agreed upon
topic.
This Notice invites topic submissions from commodity boards as
defined above, outlines the process NIFA will use to evaluate the
appropriateness of these topics for inclusion in AFRI RFAs, and
describes the commitment commodity boards will be required to make in
order for NIFA to jointly fund AFRI applications competitively selected
for award within a topic area submitted by the commodity boards.
DATES: Topics may be submitted by commodity boards at any time;
however, all topics to be considered for the fiscal year 2017 AFRI RFAs
must be received by 5:00 p.m., EDT on July 18, 2016. Topics submitted
by eligible commodity board entities after this date will be considered
for RFAs to be issued in future years. NIFA will hold a webinar and
workshop to respond to questions from commodity boards interested in
submitting topics. Details including the date and time, and access
information will be posted on the NIFA Web site (http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards/).
ADDRESSES: You may submit topics, identified by NIFA-2016-0001, by the
following method:
Email: [email protected].
Instructions: Include NIFA-2016-0001 in the subject line of the
message. The topic submission must be attached to the email using the
template located at http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards/. All topics
received must include the agency name and reference
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to NIFA-2016-0001. Topics submitted by email will not be posted to a
public site.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Mirando; Phone: (202) 401-4336,
or Robert Hedberg; Phone: (202) 720-5384, or Email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background and Purpose
This Notice begins the second topic submission cycle to implement
section 7404 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Public Law 113-79, which
amends section 2(b) of the Competitive, Special, and Facilities
Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 450i(b)) to require that NIFA ``establish
procedures, including timelines, under which an entity established
under a commodity promotion law (as such term is defined under section
501(a) of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7
U.S.C. 7401(a)) or a State commodity board (or other equivalent State
entity) may directly submit to the Secretary [(NIFA)] for consideration
proposals for requests for applications . . .'' within the AFRI
Program.
Stakeholder feedback gathered as a result of the September 2014
Notice and during the initial year of implementation (in fiscal year
2016) informed this Notice and the process NIFA is using to implement
section 7404. This Notice invites entities established under a
commodity promotion law or State commodity boards (or other equivalent
State entities) to submit topics which they are proposing for inclusion
in upcoming AFRI RFAs in fiscal year 2017. Topics must relate to the
established AFRI priority areas, which 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. A summary statement on AFRI is
included below. To learn more about AFRI programs, including program
priorities, typical award budget amounts, and examples of RFAs, please
visit: http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards.
AFRI Program Overview
The AFRI program is the largest agricultural competitive grants
program in the United States and a primary funding source for research,
education, and extension projects that bring practical solutions to
some of today's most critical societal challenges. AFRI programs impact
all components of agriculture, including farm and ranch efficiency and
profitability, bioenergy, forestry, aquaculture, rural communities,
human nutrition, food safety, biotechnology, and genetic improvement of
plants and animals.
In FY 2017, NIFA will issue at least seven AFRI RFAs to solicit
applications in the six statutory priority areas in AFRI (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;
Agriculture economics and rural communities). It is anticipated that
these will include five Challenge Area RFAs, which address the
following major societal challenges: Sustainable Bioenergy; Climate
Variability and Change; Water for Food Production Systems; Childhood
Obesity Prevention; and Food Safety. The Challenge Area RFAs solicit
grant applications for focused problem-solving efforts and provide
large awards (typically $1 million or more) for periods of up to 5
years to enable collaboration among multiple organizations and the
integration of research with education and/or extension. The sixth RFA
is the Foundational Program RFA issued annually which solicits grant
applications that focus predominately, but not exclusively, on
fundamental scientific research that addresses statutory priorities.
The final RFA is the AFRI Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and
Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) RFA which
solicits grant applications for undergraduate research and extension
experiential learning fellowships, and pre- and post-doctoral
fellowships.
Eligibility for Submitting Topics
Eligible commodity board entities are those established under a
commodity promotion law (as such term is defined under section 501(a)
of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C.
7401(a))) or a State commodity board (or other equivalent State
entity). Language in 7 U.S.C. 7401(a) defines a ``commodity promotion
law'' as ``a Federal law that provides for the establishment and
operation of a promotion program regarding an agricultural commodity
that includes a combination of promotion, research, industry
information, or consumer information activities, is funded by mandatory
assessments on producers or processors, and is designed to maintain or
expand markets and uses for the commodity (as determined by the
Secretary).'' Section 7401(a) includes a list of such Federal laws.
A current list of approved entities is maintained at (http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards). Additionally, entities eligible to
submit topics include a State commodity board (or other equivalent
State entity). This includes commodity boards authorized by State law;
commodity boards that are not authorized by State law but are organized
and operate within a State and meet the requirements of their
authorizing statute; and commodity boards that are authorized by a
State and operate within the State for commodities that have no Federal
program or oversight.
Topic Submission Guidance and Procedures
Topics may be submitted at any time and will be evaluated by NIFA
on an annual basis. However, to be considered for the proposed fiscal
year 2017 AFRI RFAs, topics must be received by COB (5 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Time) on July 18, 2016.
Each topic proposed must be submitted using the template provided
at: http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards. Commodity boards may propose
support for multiple awards for each topic proposed. For each topic the
commodity board proposes to support, the minimum amount contributed by
the commodity board must align with budget guidance for each AFRI area
(http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards) and comply with the maximum
amount of $2.5 million allowed per topic. NIFA does not intend to match
funding from a single commodity board in excess of $10 million in any
year. Commodity boards should only submit topics that have a strong
economic impact on their industry and U.S. agriculture as a whole.
Examples of topics typically supported by AFRI can be found at http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards.
If topics are accepted for funding, they will be incorporated into
AFRI RFAs, and grants supporting the topic area may be awarded to AFRI
eligible entities based on a competitive peer review process. As a
condition of funding grants in a topic, NIFA will require an agreement
to provide funds by the commodity board that is equal to the amount
NIFA is contributing under the agreed upon topic. If a topic is
selected for inclusion in an RFA, the commodity board submitting the
topic will be required to maintain the confidentiality of the topic
until the RFA is issued by NIFA. Commodity board funds must be made
available to NIFA no later than the time awards are
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selected for funding. The grants will be fully funded at the beginning
of the award, thus requiring that all commodity board funds and NIFA
funds be available at the time of the award. Applications submitted
under topics provided by commodity boards will be required to include a
letter of support from the commodity board that proposed the topic.
Evaluation and Notification Process
NIFA will screen proposed research topics to ensure they were
submitted by eligible commodity boards and consult with USDA's
Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to determine that submissions and
proposed financial contributions are consistent with commodity
promotion laws and commodity boards' charters as applicable.
Commodity board topics will be reviewed by an internal panel based
on evaluation criteria that were developed using stakeholder input from
commodity boards and other stakeholders from government, industry, and
academe. Each topic will be evaluated based on: Alignment with one or
more of the statutory AFRI priority areas (six AFRI priority areas
authorized in the Farm Bill and described in 7 CFR 3430.309); alignment
with the President's budget proposal for NIFA, as identified in the
Department of Agriculture's annual budget submission; and alignment
with the priority areas in the AFRI RFAs to be released by NIFA during
the fiscal year for which the commodity board is proposing a topic for
funding (for example, within the AFRI Foundational Program RFA, the
AFRI Animal Health and Production and Animal Product's ``Animal
Reproduction'' priority area).
From those topics received by COB (5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on
July 18, 2016, NIFA will select the topic(s) that were evaluated
favorably for inclusion in the appropriate FY 2017 AFRI RFA. NIFA will
notify commodity boards whether their topics will be included by August
16, 2016. Based on the evaluation, NIFA reserves the right to negotiate
with commodity boards should changes be required for topics and funding
amounts to be accepted. Any changes to topics and funding amounts will
be reviewed by USDA's AMS to determine if such changes are consistent
with applicable commodity promotion laws.
NIFA will evaluate topics submitted after the July 18, 2016
deadline on an annual basis and notify commodity boards whether their
topics will be included in subsequent RFAs within two weeks following
the meeting of the internal evaluation panel, the date of which will be
published on NIFA's Commodity Boards Web page at (http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards/).
Done at Washington, DC this 12th day of May, 2016.
Sonny Ramaswamy,
Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2016-11705 Filed 5-17-16; 8:45 am]
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