Je veux savoir à propos de…

49

Notices
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 1
Monday, January 4, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency statements of organization and functions are examples of documents appearing in this section.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Solicitation of Commodity Board Topics and Contribution of Funding Under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program National Institute of Food and Agriculture NIFA, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity for commodity boards to submit topics and contribute funding under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program.
AGENCY:

NIFA is soliciting topics commodity board entities Federal and State-level commodity boards, as defined below are willing to co-fund equally with NIFA. To be considered for inclusion in future Agriculture and Food Research Initiative AFRI
competitive grants program Requests for Applications RFAs, topics must relate to the established priority areas of AFRI.
Commodity boards are those entities established under a commodity promotion law, as such term is defined under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, or a State commodity board or other equivalent State entity. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this Notice under the heading Eligibility for Submitting Topics for further information.
DATES: Commodity boards may submit topics at any time; however, all topics received by 5:00 p.m. EDT on March 5, 2021 will be considered for the fiscal year 2021 AFRI RFAs. Topics submitted by eligible commodity board entities after this date are not guaranteed review for fiscal year 2021 but will be considered for RFAs to be issued in future years. Frequently asked questions about commodity board topics are available on the NIFA website https
nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boardsfrequently-asked-questions.
SUMMARY:

VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:28 Dec 31, 2020

Jkt 253001

You may submit topics by the following method: Website: https
nifa.usda.gov/resource/commodityboard-submission-form. Instructions:
The topic submission must be emailed to commodityboards@usda.gov using the website form. Required fields are marked. Topics submitted through this form will not be posted to a public site.
Submitted topics will receive an email with acknowledgment of receipt.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mark Mirando; Phone: 202 4455575, or Email: commodityboards@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If, after NIFAs evaluation, proposed topics are accepted for inclusion, they will be incorporated into AFRI competitive grants program RFAs. As a condition of funding grants pertaining to a topic, NIFA will require an agreement with the commodity board to provide funds equal to the amount NIFA is contributing under the agreed upon topic.
This Notice invites topic submissions from commodity boards as defined above, outlines the process NIFA will use to evaluate the appropriateness of these topics for inclusion in AFRI RFAs, and describes the commitment required of commodity boards for NIFA to jointly fund competitively selected AFRI
awards within a topic area submitted by the commodity boards.
ADDRESSES:

Background and Purpose This Notice begins the sixth topic submission cycle to implement section 2b4F of the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act 7
U.S.C. 3157b4F, as added by section 7404 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Public Law 11379, which requires NIFA to establish procedures, including timelines, under which an entity established under a commodity promotion law as such term is defined under section 501a of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 7 U.S.C. 7401a or a State commodity board or other equivalent State entity may directly submit to NIFA for consideration proposals for requests for applications within the AFRI Program.
Stakeholder feedback gathered in previous years informed this Notice and the process NIFA is using to implement section 7404. This Notice invites entities established under a commodity promotion law or State commodity
PO 00000

Frm 00001

Fmt 4703

Sfmt 4703

boards or other equivalent State entities to submit topics they are proposing for inclusion in fiscal year 2021 AFRI RFAs. Topics must relate to the established AFRI priority areas, which are: Plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; bioenergy, natural resources, and environment;
agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. A summary statement on AFRI is included below. To learn more about AFRI programs, including program priorities, typical award budget amounts, and examples of RFAs, please visit: https nifa.usda.gov/commodityboards/.
AFRI Program Overview The AFRI program is the largest agricultural competitive grants program in the United States and a primary funding source for research, education, and extension projects that bring practical solutions to some of todays most critical societal challenges. AFRI
programs impact all components of agriculture, including farm and ranch efficiency and profitability, bioenergy, forestry, aquaculture, rural communities, human nutrition, food safety, biotechnology, and genetic improvement of plants and animals.
In FY 2021, NIFA plans to solicit applications for AFRI funding opportunities in the six AFRI priority areas Plant health and production and plant products; Animal health and production and animal products; Food safety, nutrition, and health; Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment;
Agriculture systems and technology;
Agriculture economics and rural communities. It is anticipated these will include the AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program RFA and the AFRI Education and Workforce Development RFA. The annual AFRI
Foundational and Applied Science Program RFA solicits grant applications focused predominately, but not exclusively, on fundamental scientific research addressing statutory priorities.
The AFRI Education and Workforce Development RFA solicits grant applications for training K14
educational professionals, workforce training, undergraduate research and extension experiential learning fellowships, and preand post-doctoral
E:FRFM04JAN1.SGM

04JAN1