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Humanity depends upon the Earth's physical resources and natural systems for food, energy, and water (FEW). However, both the physical resources and the FEW systems are under increasing stress. It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate social, ecological, physical and built environments to provide for growing demand for food, energy and water in the short term while also maintaining appropriate ecosystem services for the future. Known stressors in FEW systems include governance challenges, population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability, and uneven resource distribution. The interconnections and interdependencies associated with the FEW Nexus pose research grand challenges. To meet these grand challenges, there is a critical need for research that enables new means of adapting societal use of FEW systems. The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities.

Priority area 1: Competitive, inclusive, and sustainable agricultural market systems Priority area 2: Diverse agricultural production and improved productivity Priority area 3: Policy environment for agricultural market systems development Priority area 4: Integration of youth and women into agriculture market systems Priority area 5: Collaborative Action and Learning for Market Systems Change Priority area 6: Resilience to economic, social, and climatic shocks Priority area 7: Access and consumption of diverse, safe, and nutritious foods Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number and System for Award Management

The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The central theme of submitted projects must be quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics. The intent is discovery of principles of infectious disease transmission and testing mathematical or computational models that elucidate infectious disease systems. Projects should be broad, interdisciplinary efforts that go beyond the scope of typical studies. They should focus on the determinants and interactions of transmission among humans, non-human animals, and/or plants. This includes, for example, the spread of pathogens; the influence of environmental factors such as climate; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or hosts; the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally-borne, vector-borne, or enteric diseases of either terrestrial or freshwater systems and organisms, including diseases of animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems. Proposals for research on disease systems of public health concern to developing countries are strongly encouraged, as are disease systems of concern in agricultural systems. Investigators are encouraged to develop the appropriate multidisciplinary team, including for example, modelers, bioinformaticians, genomics researchers, social scientists, economists, epidemiologists, entomologists, parasitologists, microbiologists, bacteriologists, virologists, pathologists or veterinarians, with the goal of integrating knowledge across disciplines to enhance our ability to predict and control infectious diseases.

The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The central theme of submitted projects must be quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics. The intent is discovery of principles of infectious disease transmission and testing mathematical or computational models that elucidate infectious disease systems. Projects should be broad, interdisciplinary efforts that go beyond the scope of typical studies. They should focus on the determinants and interactions of transmission among humans, non-human animals, and/or plants. This includes, for example, the spread of pathogens; the influence of environmental factors such as climate; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or hosts; or the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally-borne, vector-borne, or enteric diseases of either terrestrial or freshwater systems and organisms, including diseases of animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems. Proposals for research on disease systems of public health concern to developing countries are strongly encouraged, as are disease systems of concern in agricultural systems. Investigators are encouraged to involve the public health research community, including for example, epidemiologists, physicians, veterinarians, food scientists, social scientists, entomologists, pathologists, virologists, or parasitologists with the goal of integrating knowledge across disciplines to enhance our ability to predict and control infectious diseases.

USAID/KEA anticipates awarding a five-year cooperative agreement (CA) whose purpose is to sustainably reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Kenya by focusing on (i) inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led growth; (ii) strengthened resilience among people and systems and (iii) a well-nourished population. USAID/KEA's programmatic priorities for achieving this purpose include: Priority area 1: Competitive, inclusive, and sustainable agricultural market systems Priority area 2: Diverse agricultural production and improved productivity Priority area 3: Policy environment for agricultural market systems development Priority area 4: Integration of youth and women into agriculture market systems Priority area 5: Collaborative Action and Learning for Market Systems Change

This Request for Applications (RFA) encourages applications for developing and testing existing approaches in conjunction with computational and mathematical approaches to deepen our understanding of the complex relationship between the food system, health, and the environment. Projects funded in response to this RFA will examine multiple food-system interventions and environmental factors to address how components of a system function within the context of their environment and the collective behaviors that arise from individual elements or parts of the food system working together to alleviate food insecurity and increase health outcomes. Often, properties associated with certain interventions are actually properties of the relationships and interactions between interventions and their environment. The ultimate goal of this RFA is to encourage food system level transformations that lead to positive health outcomes and increases economic opportunities within a community.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO/IOS), and the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic, near-surface soil processes through advances in sensor systems and modeling. To accomplish this research, multiple disciplines must converge to produce novel sensors and/or sensing systems of multiple modalities that are adaptable to different environments and collect data and report on a wide range of chemical, biological and physical parameters. This type of approach will also be necessary to develop next generation soil models, wireless communication and cyber systems capabilities, and to grow a scientific community that is able to address complex problems through education and outreach. This program fosters collaboration among the partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will far exceed the simple embedded systems of today. CPS technology will transform the way people interact with engineered systems -- just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New smart CPS will drive innovation and competition in sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, building design and automation, healthcare, and manufacturing.

The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive. All NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Institutional Transformation (IT), Adaptation, Partnership, and Catalyst, in support of the NSF ADVANCE program goal to broaden the implementation of systemic strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computation and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will expand the horizons of these critical systems. CPS technologies are transforming the way people interact with engineered systems, just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New, smart CPS drive innovation and competition in a range of application domains including agriculture, aeronautics, building design, civil infrastructure, energy, environmental quality, healthcare and personalized medicine, manufacturing, and transportation. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence with CPS creates new research opportunities with major societal implications.

For fiscal year (FY) 2015, BRDI will require that funded projects address only one (1) of the following three (3) legislatively mandated technical areas: 1. Feedstocks development - The intent of this Topic Area is to address research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities regarding feedstocks and feedstock logistics (including harvest, handling, transport, preprocessing, and storage) relevant to production of raw materials for conversion to biofuels and biobased products. The BRDI program is designed to support near-term commercial systems. Projects should emphasize development and optimization of existing feedstocks that will be available for testing and demonstration during the life of the project. Proposals that include breeding or genetic improvement of feedstocks should reconcile this work with the Program's emphasis on near-term impacts. 2. Biofuels and biobased products development - The intent of this Topic Area is to address RD&D activities to support (i) development of diverse cost-effective technologies for the use of cellulosic biomass in the production of biofuels, bioenergy, and biobased products; and, (ii) product diversification through technologies relevant to the production of a range of biobased products (including chemicals, animal feeds, and cogeneration power) that potentially can increase the feasibility of fuel production in a biorefinery. 3. Biofuels development analysis - The intent of this Topic Area is to apply systems evaluation methods that can be used to optimize system performance and market potential and to quantify the project's impact on sustainability; therefore, successful applications will consider the lifecycle (cradle-to-grave) impacts including environmental, social, and economic implications that are attributable to the project. Successful projects should include these sustainability data in engineering process models and be used over the life of the project to improve the system and quantify sust

This announcement solicits applications for the Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement. The purpose of the Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement is to identify and assess trends, tools, resources and successful strategies used by rural communities to recruit and retain needed staff across key sectors of the rural health care delivery system. This will include primary care providers, behavioral health and oral health providers, allied health providers, as well as Rural Health Network Directors and Rural Telehealth Network Directors. The awardee will identify successful tools and strategies used by States, health systems and individual providers to attract the staff necessary to support health care services in rural communities. The awardee will also identify gaps in these areas and propose potential responses to these gaps that will inform rural stakeholders and policymakers. The awardee will focus on helping to foster connections between existing national and State resources to support successful recruitment and retention. The overarching goal is to enhance responsiveness to the challenges faced by rural communities in attracting the workforce needed to meet emerging needs, particularly in an evolving health care system where insurance coverage expansion brings both new opportunities and new challenges.1 This program, a cooperative agreement, requires an ongoing partnership and a collaborative relationship with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in the selection of projects and in the development and implementation of the activities submitted in the work plan. Specifically, the Rural Recruitment and Retention Analysis Cooperative Agreement will work toward: · Conducting an inventory and developing a narrative report of the different rural recruitment and retention strategies currently utilized. There will be a particular emphasis on analyzing nationwide and State-based programs, initiatives and s

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) and Environmental Biology (DEB), in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic soil processes, including soil formation, through advances in sensor systems and modeling. The Signals in the Soil (SitS) program fosters collaboration among the two partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions. To make transformative advances in our understanding of soils, multiple disciplines must converge to produce environmentally-benign novel sensing systems with multiple modalities that can adapt to different environments and collect and transmit data for a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical parameters. Effective integration of sensor data will be key for achieving a better understanding of signaling interactions among plants, animals, microbes, the soil matrix, and aqueous and gaseous components. New sensor networks have the potential to inform models in novel ways, to radically change how data is obtained from various natural and managed (both urban and rural) ecosystems, and to better inform the communities that directly rely on soils for sustenance and livelihood.

The Organic Farming Research Foundation is dedicated to fostering the widespread adoption and improvement of organic farming systems in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. To that end, OFRF provides funding for research on organic farming and food systems and the dissemination of these research results to organic farmers and the greater agricultural and research communities. One-year grants of up to $20,000 are available for research projects related to any production, social, economic, or policy-related topic of concern to organic farmers and/or ranchers. Priority areas include soil health, innovative weed control, management of emerging insect and disease issues, and livestock health. Projects must involve farmers or ranchers in project design and implementation and must take place on certified organic land, ideally on a working organic farm or ranch. Applicants should articulate how the proposed research project will foster the improvement or adoption of organic farming systems, as well as ways in which organic farmers or ranchers can use the proposed results in their operations. Research projects must include strong education and outreach components and contain measurable objectives.

NIFA requests applications for the Food and Agriculture Education Information System (FAEIS) for fiscal year (FY) 2018 to maintain a national food and agricultural education information system that contains information on enrollment, degrees awarded, faculty, employment placement, and other similar information in the food and agricultural sciences. The Food and Agriculture Education Information System (FAEIS) is a comprehensive database that gathers information, on a voluntary basis, from degree granting institutions of higher education on student enrollment in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH) sciences, degrees awarded, and graduate placement at all degree levels and by gender, race, and other relevant categories. In addition, data is collected on faculty salaries by rank and discipline.

Applications to the FY 2018 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system within the next 25 years. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach, and that will significantly improve the supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food, while providing sustainable opportunities for expansion of the bioeconomy through novel animal, crop, and forest products and supporting technologies. These approaches must demonstrate current and future social, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed must result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption. See AFRI SAS RFA for details.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Global Programs (GP) seeks the provision of technical assistance to improve its understanding of market system resilience. Specifically, USDA/FAS and USAID/Kenya and East Africa (KEA) seek to support exploratory research to develop, field test, refine hypotheses, and draft indicators and tools for measuring critical factors that enable market systems to adapt and transform in the face of shocks and stresses. As such, it will support the U.S. Government's Feed the Future aim of improving agricultural market system resilience leading to more secure economic opportunities for vulnerable populations facing shocks and stresses in northern Kenya. Field level data collection should take place in one county in Northern Kenya and one county in Eastern Kenya, to be selected by USDA based on ongoing U.S. government programming. USDA will ensure that there are no security concerns with the county to be selected, and will consider recommendations from the applicant. Data collection should involve mixed methods (e.g. focus groups, individual interviews and/or mini surveys) with approximately 70-100 market players and 20-30 experts/key informants. Applicants should plan for approximately 50 percent of the effort to be primary data collection and approximately 50 percent of the effort to be desk reviews, analysis, and writing.

n FY 2014, only proposals that focus on reducing crop and livestock losses in U.S. agricultural systems will be considered for funding. Proposed projects should develop and extend sustainable, integrated management strategies that reduce pre and post-harvest losses caused by diseases, insects, and weeds in crop and animal production systems, while maintaining or improving product quality and production efficiency. Proposals should aim to develop approaches for managing losses throughout the whole food system (production, harvesting, storage, processing, distribution, and consumption), and should address the social, economic, and behavioral aspects of food security. Project types supported by AFRI within this Challenge Area will propose multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects, Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants, and conferences and/or workshops.

The overall goal of the Organic Transitions Program (ORG) is to support the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices. In FY 2014, ORG will continue to prioritize environmental services provided by organic farming systems in the area of soil conservation and climate change mitigation, including greenhouse gases (GHG). Two new priorities have been added to support (1) the development of educational tools for Cooperative Extension personnel and other agricultural professionals who advise producers on organic practices and (2) the development of cultural practices and other allowable alternatives to substances recommended for removal from the National Organic Programs National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. Practices and systems to be addressed include those associated with organic crops, organic animal production, and organic systems integrating plant and animal production.

A. Purpose and Priorities The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will award grants that increase the understanding and adoption of established food safety standards, guidance, and protocols. Grants awarded through this program will be carried out in a manner that facilitates the integration of food safety standards and guidance with a variety of agricultural production systems, including conventional, sustainable, organic, and conservation and environmental practices carried out by the eligible entities. The assistance provided by these programs, to the extent practicable, shall be coordinated with and delivered in cooperation with similar services or assistance by other federal agencies or programs serving those eligible entities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have joined in a collaborative partnership to administer and manage the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program. This program is designed to develop a comprehensive food safety training, education and technical assistance program for those affected by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Specifically, this program will address the needs of owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. The joint program will award competitive grant funds that enable awardees to establish a National Coordination Center (NCC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance and Regional Centers (RC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance across the country for food safety training, education, and technical assistance. Project Teams for the RCs will reach out into local communities to work wi