OARS funding Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Acer Access and Development Program (Acer). AMS will competitively award grants to eligible applicants for projects that support the efforts of States, tribal governments, and research institutions to promote the domestic maple syrup industry through activities associated with: promotion of research and education related to maple syrup production; promotion of natural resource sustainability in the maple syrup industry; market promotion for maple syrup and maple-sap products; encouragement of owners and operators of privately held land containing species of trees in the genus Acer-to initiate or expand maple-sugaring activities on the land; or to voluntarily make the land available, including by lease or other means, for access by the public for maple-sugaring activities. Eligible applicants include States, tribal governments, and research institutions.Approximately $1 million is available in total to fund applications under this solicitation. The maximum award is $350,000.This announcement provides information about the eligibility criteria for applicants and projects, and the application forms and associated instructions needed to apply for an award.

The purpose of this modification is to implement Phase II of the three-phase agreement. The intention to do a money-added modification was stated in the continuation clause included in the original Task Agreement. The intent of the overall task remains the same: To complete STARFire analyses on all of the of the NPS units with burnable vegetation. The work on Phase I of this agreement has been successful in both streamlining the analysis process and producing outputs at the park group level to initiate integration with the current budgeting framework. The Fire Management Program Center (FMPC) would like to continue the work begun in Phase I by running additional park units (19 fire management park groups, emphasizing the 15 park groups in IMR and 4 park groups in MWR) into the STARFire analysis consistent with the original Statement of Work. The final list of parks will be determined in collaboration with CSU

Proposed Phase I projects should prove the scientific or technical feasibility of the approach or concept. Projects dealing with agriculturally related manufacturing and alternative and renewable energy technologies are encouraged across all SBIR topic areas. USDA SBIR's flexible research areas ensure innovative projects consistent with USDA's vision of a healthy and productive nation in harmony with the land, air, and water. USDA SBIR Program has awarded over 2000 research and development projects since 1983, allowing hundreds of small businesses to explore their technological potential, and providing an incentive to profit from the commercialization of innovative ideas.

Proposed Phase I projects should prove the scientific or technical feasibility of the approach or concept. Projects dealing with agriculturally related manufacturing and alternative and renewable energy technologies are encouraged across all SBIR topic areas. USDA SBIR's flexible research areas ensure innovative projects consistent with USDA's vision of a healthy and productive nation in harmony with the land, air, and water. USDA SBIR Program has awarded over 2000 research and development projects since 1983, allowing hundreds of small businesses to explore their technological potential, and providing an incentive to profit from the commercialization of innovative ideas.

Background: The National Native Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration 2015-2020 outlines a coordinated approach to establish a national network of native seed collectors, growers, and nurseries to supply adequate quantities of appropriate seed, and a network of restoration ecologists. The Montana State Office is seeking to partner with Colleges or Universities across Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota to help develop native plant materials that would include species important for sage-grouse habitat restoration, stabilization and rehabilitation projects, culturally significant species, increase pollinator habitat, and research needs for these species. The partnership is also seeking to build conservation science into new or existing curriculum, develop interest in restoration efforts, and foster better communication and understanding of culturally significant and tribally important plants. Objectives: To develop native plant programs by collecting and germinating native plant seed. This project will build unique relationships with recipients who are interested in natural conservation work and keeping their own culture connected to the public lands. Public Benefit: This project provides long-term benefits to the public by providing native plant and conservation projects on public lands. In addition, this project will provide education and awareness about the importance of native plants and their impact on environmental factors such as sage-grouse habitat.

Background: The National Native Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration 2015-2020 outlines a coordinated approach to establish a national network of native seed collectors, growers, and nurseries to supply adequate quantities of appropriate seed. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Montana/Dakotas has partnered in the past with non-governmental organizations to help in the development of locally adapted plant materials. Objectives: Develop locally adapted native plant materials including seed and seedling resources for public land restoration or lands adjacent to public lands. Tasks under this project include but are not limited to: 1. Providing seed and seedlings 2. Cleaning of small wild collected lots of seed Public Benefit: The public will benefit because the project provides locally adapted seed and seedlings for habitat restoration, which in turn creates more habitat for hunting, fishing, and recreation opportunities. These plant materials will be available to partners for use in restoration on public, private, and tribal lands.

The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) intends to request proposals through one or more formal Funding Opportunity Notice (FON) announcements beginning approximately September 8, 2017 and remaining open through November 16, 2017 for FONs 1 and 2 and December 14, 2017 for FON 3. The intent of this notice is to provide an early alert to investigators interested in the topics listed below so that they can begin considering responsive ideas with potential partners and collaborators.

This project not only serves the National Park Service and specifically Great Smoky Mountains National Park by allowing the Park to maintain and repair the assets it is responsible for and the public greatly benefits by having safe access to two very popular trails at GRSM

It also allows other researchers to develop new projects to further the knowledge of wildlife and rangeland management.Specific objectives include, but are not limited to: 1) Determine the number of grouse and leks and fit them with tracking devices. 2) Monitoring the birdsâ¿¿ movements to develop important seasonal habitats. 3) Develop GIS shapefiles and statistical analysis supporting habitat delineation. 4) Complete summary reports and make them available to interested parties, including land managers and other researchers.Public Benefit: This project will help inform future management decisions in sage brush ecosystems that will benefit a wide range of wildlife species, including GRSG, that reside on public lands within Billings Field Office in Carbon County Montana.

Background: In the fall of 2016, BLM was asked to participate in a non-vascular plant inventory in Musselshell County, MT. This location was chosen based on an evaluation of the MT Natural Heritage Programâ¿¿s (NHP) biological database which indicated no records for lichens, mosses, and other components of biotic soil crust. The results of this evaluation identified 11 Eastern Montana counties with no records. It was also noted that the diversity of vascular and non-vascular plant data from Eastern Montana is lacking in comprehensive information. Objectives: This project would help to fill information gaps on vascular and non-vascular plants associated with public, private, and state lands in Eastern MT. The goals of the project would be to supplement the MT NHP on-line field guide, build a more complete record of species in the database, and make this information available to all land owners. Public Benefit: This data will help land management make better informed decisions and bring more awareness of the role that of vascular and non-vascular plants play in a healthy ecosystem. The project would also look to bring simple and consistent monitoring of these species based on the functional areas that each support.

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.

This grant program supports: (1) training students for Master's and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences, and; (2) Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries. Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities and national science education policies and statistics. Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas: 1) animal and plant production; 2) forest resources; 3) agricultural educators and communicators; 4) agricultural management and economics; 5) food science and human nutrition; 6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity; and 7) training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.

The RHSE program proposals are expected to be community-based, outreach education programs, such as those conducted through Human Science extension outreach, that provides individuals and families with: Information as to the value of good health at any age; Information to increase individual or family's motivation to take more responsibility for their own health; Information regarding rural environmental health issues that directly impact on human health; Information about and access to health promotion and educational activities; and Training for volunteers and health services providers concerning health promotion and health care services for individuals and families in cooperation with state, local and community partners.

The purpose of this competitive undergraduate scholarship grant program is to increase the multicultural diversity of the food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce, and advance the educational achievement of all Americans by providing competitive grants to colleges and universities.

This program makes funding available for the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN or 'the Network') for Fiscal Year 2017 as provided under the Agricultural Act of 2014, commonly referred to as the Farm Bill of 2014, specifically Section 10007. The National Clean Plant Network provides asexually propagated plant material free of targeted plant pathogens and pests to protect the environment and ensure the global competitiveness of U.S. specialty crop producers. Program priorities include: 1) establishing and supporting governance and related administrative activities; 2) promoting the introduction, diagnosis, treatment, establishment (in foundation blocks) and release of clean plant materials, both from foreign and domestic sources, for commercial development; 3) conducting methods development to accurately advance and test therapies, as well as establish guidelines and standards for certification maintenance; 4) developing partnerships with extension and outreach services (e.g. university and state departments of agriculture) to interact with commercial nurseries, industry associations and producers; and 5) developing and implementing best practices and quality control protocols.

This program makes funding available for the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN or 'the Network') for Fiscal Year 2017 as provided under the Agricultural Act of 2014, commonly referred to as the Farm Bill of 2014, specifically Section 10007. The National Clean Plant Network provides asexually propagated plant material free of targeted plant pathogens and pests to protect the environment and ensure the global competitiveness of U.S. specialty crop producers. Program priorities include: 1) establishing and supporting governance and related administrative activities; 2) promoting the introduction, diagnosis, treatment, establishment (in foundation blocks) and release of clean plant materials, both from foreign and domestic sources, for commercial development; 3) conducting methods development to accurately advance and test therapies, as well as establish guidelines and standards for certification maintenance; 4) developing partnerships with extension and outreach services (e.g. university and state departments of agriculture) to interact with commercial nurseries, industry associations and producers; and 5) developing and implementing best practices and quality control protocols.

The purpose of the NNF Grants Program is to provide funding to support students' training and completion of master's and/or doctoral degree programs in identified national need areas within the Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences. Awards made under NNF are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in areas where there is a national need for the development of scientific and professional expertise in the food and agricultural sciences. NNF awards invest in graduate training and relevant international experiential learning for a cadre of diverse individuals who demonstrate their potential to successfully complete graduate degree programs in disciplines relevant to the mission of the USDA.

NIFA/USDA requests applications for the Virtual Lab School (aka Virtual Laboratory School) (VLS) program for fiscal year (FY) 2016 to provide all maintenance and support necessary to maintain the Virtual Lab School, a virtual learning platform which houses all statutorily mandated training for Department of Defense (DoD) child development program staff.

NSF-funded advancements are enabling a wide variety of beneficial applications of UAS in areas such as monitoring and inspection of physical infrastructure, prevention of airport bird strikes, smart emergency/disaster response, natural gas leak detection, agriculture support, personal services, and observation and study of weather phenomena including severe storms. These advances are made possible through fundamental investments in theoretical principles of UAS, including intelligent sensing, perception, and control; estimation; communications; collaboration and teaming; UAS adaptation and learning; human-UAS interaction; and safety, security, and privacy of UAS. These novel fundamental approaches enable increased understanding of how to intelligently and effectively design, control, and apply UAS to beneficial applications. NSF welcomes proposals that accelerate fundamental technological advances in UAS; these proposals should be submitted to existing CISE and ENG core and crosscutting research programs, following all proposal preparation instructions specified in the corresponding program announcements and solicitations. All proposals must meet the requirements of NSF's Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), along with any program- or solicitation-specific proposal preparation instructions and review criteria. Proposals must be synergistic with the goals of the programs to which they are submitted.

NSF-funded advancements are enabling a wide variety of beneficial applications of UAS in areas such as monitoring and inspection of physical infrastructure, prevention of airport bird strikes, smart emergency/disaster response, natural gas leak detection, agriculture support, personal services, and observation and study of weather phenomena including severe storms. These advances are made possible through fundamental investments in theoretical principles of UAS, including intelligent sensing, perception, and control; estimation; communications; collaboration and teaming; UAS adaptation and learning; human-UAS interaction; and safety, security, and privacy of UAS. These novel fundamental approaches enable increased understanding of how to intelligently and effectively design, control, and apply UAS to beneficial applications. NSF welcomes proposals that accelerate fundamental technological advances in UAS; these proposals should be submitted to existing CISE and ENG core and crosscutting research programs, following all proposal preparation instructions specified in the corresponding program announcements and solicitations. All proposals must meet the requirements of NSF's Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), along with any program- or solicitation-specific proposal preparation instructions and review criteria. Proposals must be synergistic with the goals of the programs to which they are submitted.

NIFA requests applications for the Army Family Advocacy Program: Research and Prevention (ARMY) for fiscal year (FY) 2016 to 1) determine the effectiveness for child and domestic/partner abuse case treatments for Army Medical Command and 2) develop evidence-based information for prevention of child abuse and domestic/partner abuse for Army Installation Management Command.

NIFA requests applications for the Army Family Advocacy Program: Research and Prevention (ARMY) for fiscal year (FY) 2016 to 1) determine the effectiveness for child and domestic/partner abuse case treatments for Army Medical Command and 2) develop evidence-based information for prevention of child abuse and domestic/partner abuse for Army Installation Management Command.

Energy company Constellation believes that providing quality educational opportunities and career development are among the most important tools it can provide to communities to help them succeed over the long term.  To that end, the company is accepting grant applications for local community projects designed to inspire students to think differently about energy. Grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded for projects at the 6-12 grade level and up to $50,000 for projects at the college level. Projects should be team-oriented, learning-focused, hands-on demonstration projects that generate specific results and reach a minimum of a hundred students.