NOFO: Scientific Cooperation Research Program (United States)

This opportunity is intended to support applied research, extension, and education collaborations between U.S. researchers and their foreign counterparts from selected emerging market economies.

Program Description

• USDA’s FAS administers the SCRP. This program has historically supported up to 12 collaborative research programs annually. All applications must include foreign collaborations, and project timelines should not exceed two years. Funding may be allocated to foreign collaborators through subawards.
• The SCRP supports FAS’s strategic goals by mobilizing the scientific community’s accumulated knowledge and technologies through the funding of joint research, extension, and education projects. These projects are between U.S. researchers and researchers from selected emerging market economies, last up to two years, and address issues including but not limited to agricultural trade and market access, animal and plant health, biotechnology, food safety and security, climate smart agriculture, and sustainable natural resource management. Since 1980, the program has supported hundreds of projects to enhance the technical skills of agricultural professionals and help beneficiary countries further develop their relationships with the U.S. agriculture sector.
• In the 2024 program cycle, the SCRP will support applied research, extension, and education projects between U.S. researchers and their foreign counterparts from selected emerging market economies, generally including countries listed in the lowand middle-income groups by the World Bank) who seek to create practical solutions to challenges faced by farmers and build regional or global agricultural trade capacities in target countries.
• In general, applications must support one or more of the following strategies of the Global Food Security Act of 2016:
  • Accelerate inclusive, agricultural-led economic growth that reduces global poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, particularly among women and children.
  • Increase the productivity, incomes, and livelihoods of small-scale producers, especially U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Foreign Agricultural Service 2 women, by working across agricultural value chains, enhancing local capacity to manage agricultural resources effectively, and expanding producer access to local and international markets.
  • Build resilience to food shocks among vulnerable populations and households while reducing reliance upon emergency food assistance.
  • Create an enabling environment for agricultural growth and investment, including through the promotion of secure and transparent property rights.
  • Improve the nutritional status of women and children, with a focus on reducing child stunting, including through the promotion of highly nutritious foods, diet diversification, and nutritional behaviors that improve maternal and child health.
  • Align with and leverage broader United States strategies and investments in trade, economic growth, science and technology, agricultural research and extension, maternal and child health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Funding Information

• Total Available Federal Funding: Up to $600,000 total, up to $50,000 per award Subject to availability of funding
• Anticipated Number of Awards: Up to 12
• Projected Period of Performance Start: August 1, 2024
• Projected Period of Performance End: July 31, 2026

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Applicants: State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States, as defined at 7 USC 3103.
• All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management before the application submission deadline of the announcement; applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible. Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered.
• Cost Share/Match Requirement: None/Not Required.
• Ineligible activities: If an application is submitted that includes any ineligible tasks or activities, that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.