IR-4 Minor Crop Pest Management | USDA NIFA SRGP 006701

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SRGP 006701

The IR-4 Minor Crop Pest Management grant opportunity, offered by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), is designed to close a long-standing gap in pest management options for minor and specialty crops. Many fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, ornamentals, and other specialty crops are grown on smaller acreages than major commodity crops, which means the potential sales volume for crop protection products is relatively limited. Because of that smaller market base, private companies often cannot justify the high costs required to research, test, register, produce, and market pesticides or other crop protection tools specifically for these crops. The IR-4 program exists to bridge that economic and regulatory barrier by supporting the work needed to make safe, effective, and practical pest management products available to specialty crop growers and, ultimately, to consumers.

At its core, the program funds efforts that help generate the data and coordination needed for product registrations and label expansions that include minor and specialty crops. This typically involves research and development activities tied to crop protection products, including the types of studies and documentation regulators require before approving uses on additional crops. The emphasis is on ensuring that the resulting tools are not only effective against pests, but also meet safety expectations and are economically reasonable for real-world farm use. A major theme of the opportunity is collaboration: the work is expected to rely on coordinated partnerships among federal agencies, the crop protection industry, and land-grant colleges and universities, reflecting the fact that getting a product approved for specialty crop use usually requires shared expertise, infrastructure, and alignment with regulatory requirements.

Eligibility to apply is limited to specific types of institutions that are central to the US agricultural research system. Applications may be submitted only by State agricultural experiment stations; land-grant colleges and universities; research foundations established by land-grant colleges and universities; colleges and universities that receive funds under the Act of October 10, 1962 (16 U.S.C. 582a et seq.); and accredited schools or colleges of veterinary medicine when the purpose is to facilitate or expand ongoing state-federal food and agricultural research programs, as described under the Competitive, Special and Facilities Research Grant Act of August 4, 1965 (7 U.S.C. 3157(c)(1)(B)). The notice is explicit that failure to meet eligibility requirements can result in an application being excluded from consideration, and even if an ineligible application is reviewed, NIFA will not make an award.

While only the eligible entities above can apply directly, award recipients are allowed to subcontract parts of the work to organizations that are not themselves eligible applicants, as long as those partners are necessary to carry out the project. This structure supports practical teaming arrangements where specialized expertise, facilities, field sites, analytical labs, or other capabilities may sit outside the applicant institution, but still play a critical role in generating results and deliverables.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary grant program under CFDA 10.200. The funding opportunity title is "IR-4 Minor Crop Pest Management" and the funding opportunity number is USDA NIFA SRGP 006701. The opportunity was created on 2019-02-26 and had an original closing date of 2019-04-03. The listed award ceiling is $4,000,000, indicating support for large-scale, coordinated work consistent with the IR-4 program's national scope and its focus on producing outcomes that enable broader access to crop protection solutions for specialty crop systems.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "IR-4 Minor Crop Pest Management" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.200.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-02-26.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-04-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA SRGP 006701

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