Minor Crop Pest Management Program Interregional Research Project # 4 (IR-4) | USDA NIFA SRGP 008033

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SRGP 008033

The Minor Crop Pest Management Program Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4) is a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) discretionary grant opportunity designed to close a long-standing gap in pest management options for minor and specialty crop growers. Its core mission is to help make safe, effective, and affordable crop protection tools available for crops that do not generate enough sales volume for private companies to justify the full cost of bringing new pest management products to market. Because the minor and specialty crop market is relatively small, the crop protection industry often cannot reasonably recover the expenses tied to research, residue and efficacy testing, regulatory data packages, registration, production, and eventual marketing. IR-4 exists to provide the research and coordination support needed to move promising pest management solutions through the steps required for regulatory approval and practical adoption by growers.

In practical terms, the program supports work that helps generate the evidence regulators and stakeholders need to allow the legal use of pest management products on minor and specialty crops. The emphasis is on enabling the development and availability of newer or improved crop protection products, which can include conventional pesticides and other pest management approaches depending on the scope defined in the request for applications (RFA). A key feature of IR-4 is collaboration: the program is built around coordinated efforts among federal partners, the crop protection industry, and land-grant colleges and universities. That interregional and multi-institutional structure is intended to reduce duplication, share specialized expertise and facilities, and speed up the pathway from identifying a pest management need to delivering a usable, approved solution for growers.

Eligibility is broad but still rules-driven. Applications may be submitted by state agricultural experiment stations, colleges and universities, extension services, private industry, and other interested parties, as long as they meet all requirements laid out in the RFA. NIFA makes clear that failing to meet eligibility criteria by the application deadline can lead to an application being excluded from review or otherwise prevent NIFA from making an award even if the application is reviewed. The opportunity also enforces a strict policy against duplicate or multiple submissions; if an applicant submits more than one application (or duplicate versions), NIFA will disqualify both. Award recipients are allowed to subcontract to organizations that are not themselves eligible applicants when those organizations are necessary to carry out the project, which provides flexibility to bring in specialized labs, contractors, or partner entities as needed.

From the published opportunity details, this funding opportunity is listed as USDA NIFA SRGP 008033 under CFDA number 10.200, categorized as an Agriculture funding activity and offered as a grant. The agency is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The original closing date was February 25, 2021, and the listing shows an award ceiling of up to $15,000,000. The opportunity was created on December 11, 2020. Overall, the IR-4 program is positioned as an enabling mechanism that helps minor and specialty crop producers gain access to pest management tools that might otherwise never be developed, tested, and registered due to limited commercial incentives, while maintaining an emphasis on safety, effectiveness, cost considerations, and coordinated public-private-academic collaboration.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Minor Crop Pest Management Program Interregional Research Project # 4 (IR-4)" 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 2020-12-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-02-25. (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 $15,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA SRGP 008033

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