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Contact: Sally Gifford, 202-720-2047
WASHINGTON, D.C. March 8, 2017 – The U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(NIFA) today announced $12.1 in available funding through the Crop Protection
and Pest Management (CPPM) Competitive Grants Program.
“Pests, including insects and other arthropods,
microbial pathogens, weeds, and vertebrates pose threats to U.S. food
security,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “NIFA-funded discoveries offer
sustainable, economically viable solutions to manage these biological
constraints to food production.”
The CPPM program supports research and extension
projects that address critical state, regional, and national integrated pest
management (IPM) needs, ensure food security, and respond to other major pest
challenges. The program encourages projects that establish communication
networks and stakeholder participation to increase the impact of the research.
In FY 2017, NIFA will competitively solicit only the Applied Research and
Development Program Area (ARDP) and the Extension Implementation Program Area
(EIP) applications under the CPPM program.
The anticipated amount available for grants in FY 2017 is approximately
$4.1 for ARDP and $8 million for EIP.
Eligible applicants include colleges and universities, including
Hispanic-serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs), and research
foundations maintained by eligible colleges or universities.
The
deadline for applications is May 9.
See the request
for applications for details.
Since 2014, NIFA has invested more than $48 million through CPPM.
Among previously funded projects, Pennsylvania
State University is adapting novel
nanotube technology to be able to detect plant pathogens on crops earlier in
the infection cycle. This research is designed to give farmers faster tools to
monitor the health of their crops. A University
of Georgia research and extension project is studying the
highly damaging insect pest of peanuts, the peanut burrower bug. The outcomes
of this project will provide growers tools to determine the risk to individual
fields from this pest and treatment recommendations.
NIFA invests in and
advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes
transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA
support for the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel has
resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that combat childhood
obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability
issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate climate
variability and ensure food safety. To
learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.
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