Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 006810
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Pre-Applications opportunity, identified as USDA NIFA SCRI 006810, is a grant program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Its overall goal is to strengthen the specialty crop sector by funding projects that combine research and extension work to solve major, real-world problems affecting specialty crops across the country. The program is framed around challenges that matter at a national, regional, or multi-state scale, and it is intended to support the long-term sustainability of food and agriculture systems, including both conventional and organic production.
In practical terms, SCRI is designed to move beyond small, isolated studies and instead encourage work that has broad relevance and clear pathways to adoption. The “research and extension” emphasis signals that projects are expected not only to generate new knowledge or tools, but also to help get those results into the hands of growers, processors, and other stakeholders through education, demonstrations, outreach, and applied technical support. The program explicitly focuses on “critical needs” of the specialty crop industry, meaning proposals are expected to be grounded in industry priorities and to address barriers that limit productivity, resilience, profitability, and market success.
To be responsive to the opportunity, projects must align with at least one of five required focus areas. The first focus area centers on improving crop characteristics through plant breeding and modern biological approaches such as genetics and genomics. This can include developing new varieties with better yield, quality, nutritional traits, stress tolerance, shelf life, or other economically important characteristics. It also supports methods that accelerate breeding progress and improve how traits are identified, tracked, and incorporated into commercial or grower-ready cultivars.
The second focus area targets threats from pests and diseases, and it also explicitly includes threats to specialty crop pollinators. This scope covers detection, management, and prevention strategies for insects, pathogens, weeds, and emerging or invasive threats, as well as work that protects or strengthens pollinator health and pollination services. Projects in this category often involve integrated pest management approaches, improved diagnostics, risk assessment, resistant varieties, biological controls, and strategies to reduce harmful impacts of pest control practices on beneficial organisms.
The third focus area is about long-term improvements in production efficiency, handling and processing, overall productivity, and profitability, and it is broad enough to include specialty crop policy and marketing. This area can include on-farm production systems and practices, postharvest handling, supply chain improvements, labor and resource efficiency, and economic analyses that help the industry remain competitive. By including policy and marketing, NIFA signals that profitability challenges are not only technical but can also be structural or market-driven, and that research may address business models, consumer demand, market access, or the economic impacts of regulatory or policy environments.
The fourth focus area prioritizes innovation and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening. This is aimed at modernizing specialty crop production and postharvest systems through new tools, equipment, and processes that reduce losses, increase efficiency, and support product quality. Mechanization can be especially important in labor-intensive specialty crops, while ripening control and shelf-life technologies can help reduce waste, extend shipping windows, and maintain quality from farm to consumer.
The fifth focus area addresses food safety hazards in specialty crop production, handling, and processing, emphasizing methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to risks. This includes work that supports safer practices and systems across the specialty crop chain, such as improved sanitation and preventive controls, monitoring and rapid detection tools, risk reduction strategies, and response protocols when contamination events occur. The framing reflects the reality that specialty crops, particularly those consumed fresh, can present food safety challenges that require both scientific solutions and practical implementation.
From the opportunity record itself, this listing is categorized as “Mandatory” and uses a grant as the funding instrument, with the activity category listed as Agriculture and CFDA number 10.309. The eligible applicant category is shown as “Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification),” indicating that eligibility may extend beyond a single institution type and would normally be clarified in the full program materials associated with the notice. The posting lists an initial creation date of August 12, 2019, and an original closing date of October 15, 2019. The record shows an award ceiling of 0 and expected awards of 0, which is typically an artifact of how certain pre-application or announcement listings are entered rather than a statement that no funding exists, and would normally be reconciled by consulting the full solicitation details and related program guidance.
Overall, SCRI Pre-Applications is best understood as an entry point into a competitive USDA NIFA grant program focused on high-impact specialty crop work. It supports projects that address major industry needs through science-based innovation and strong extension components, with eligible topics spanning breeding and genomics, pest and disease pressures (including pollinators), production and postharvest efficiency and profitability, advanced technology and mechanization (including ripening and shelf-life tools), and comprehensive food safety risk management for specialty crops.Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 006810
- The Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Specialty Crop Research Initiative Pre-Applications" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.309.
- This funding opportunity was created on Aug 12, 2019.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 15, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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