The NIFA ReportA Tale of Two

BranchesDaniel Schmoldt

National Program Leader

Outline

National Institute Transition

2008 Farm Bill authorized creation of a new agency, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (the National Institute) All current authorities administered by CSREES

have been transferred to the new agency. The transition was completed October 1, 2009

The National Institute will raise the profile of agricultural science, including research, education and extension. A presidentially-appointed director will lead the National Institute.

National Institute Transition

A coordinating committee, comprised of CSREES staff, was created to help guide the transition

The coordinating committee presented its options for the organization of the National Institute

The final decision on the organization of the National Institute rests with the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Under Secretary and the new Director of the National Institute.

National Institute Switch

Office of the REE Under Secretary

The 2008 Farm Bill authorizes creation of the Research, Education, and Extension Office (REEO) to coordinate the science activities across USDA

PLANT HEALTH AND PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRODUCTS ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS FOOD SAFETY, NUTRITION, AND HEALTH RENEWABLE ENERGY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY AGRICULTURE ECONOMICS AND RURAL COMMUNITIES

Under Secretary = USDA Chief Scientist REEO will assist the Under Secretary in

developing a roadmap for agricultural research, education, and extension, and coordinate those functions across the mission area and all USDA research

Personnel

USDA Priorities Global Food Security and Hunger - NIFA supports

new science to boost U.S. agricultural production, improve global capacity to meet the growing food demand, and foster innovation in fighting hunger by addressing food security for vulnerable populations.

Climate Change - NIFA-funded projects generate knowledge to develop an agriculture system that maintains high productivity in the face of climate changes. This will help producers to plan for and make decisions to adapt to changing environments and sustain economic vitality, and can take advantage of emerging economic opportunities offered by climate change mitigation technologies.

USDA Priorities Sustainable Energy - NIFA contributes to the

President's goal of energy independence with a portfolio of grant programs to develop biomass use for biofuels, designing optimum forestry and crops for bioenergy production, and to produce value-added bio-based industrial products.

Childhood Obesity - NIFA-supported programs ensure that nutritious foods are affordable and available, and provide guidance so that individuals and families are able to make informed, science-based decisions about their health and well-being.

USDA Priorities Food Safety - NIFA food safety programs work

to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness and provide a safer food supply by addressing and eliminating causes of microbial contaminants, educating consumer and food safety professionals, and developing food processing technologies to improve safety.

FY 2010 NIFA Budget

Mandatory ProgramsMandatory Programs ($1000) FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010

Risk Management Education $5,000 $5,000 $5,000

Biomass Research and Development 0 20,000 28,000

Biodiesel Fuel Education Program 1,000 1,000 1,000Organic Agriculture Research and Extension

Initiative 3,000 18,000 20,000

Community Food Projects Program 0 10,000 5,000

Specialty Crop Research Initiative 30,000 50,000 50,000

Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center 0 1,000 1,000

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program 0 18,000 19,000

Outreach and Technical Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Ranchers and Farmers 0 15,000 20,000

Total, Mandatory Funding 39,000 138,000 149,000

AFRI Authorizations: Agriculture and

Food Research Initiative = NRI ($500M ) + Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems ($200M)

Integrated = 30% of funds Research = 60% basic + 40%

applied Six science program areas

PLANT HEALTH AND PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRODUCTS

ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

FOOD SAFETY, NUTRITION, AND HEALTH RENEWABLE ENERGY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND

ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY AGRICULTURE ECONOMICS AND RURAL

COMMUNITIES

AFRI – Types of Proposals Single Function

ResearchEducationExtension

Integrated, Multi-Functional Conferences Coordinated Agricultural

Projects

Comments from the Director: Where NIFA is

HeadedBoth high crop yields and safe and sustainable practices are critically important, and both deserve USDA’s continued full support.

What you have told us, almost to a person, is that we won’t accomplish much if we try to do everything. Your advice was to sharpen our focus – don’t be afraid to take on big, bold issues like food safety or global food security, but pick a reasonable number of topics to tackle because we are an agency with limited financial and human resources.

Comments from the Director: Where NIFA is

HeadedWhat you told us was that we weren’t working at scales large enough to make the kind of impact we want–large scale initiatives that draw scientists from a range of disciplines and the totality of public and private research institutions, focused on a few achievable outcomes can be more successful than a hundred pilot projects on a many different projects.

And while contributing to scientific knowledge is critically important…this is not sufficient. The scientific knowledge learned from these efforts must be translated into real solutions for real people.

Comments from the Director: Where NIFA is

HeadedBut instead of focusing on many different problems at once, we should be figuring out how those many problems resolve into a limited and discrete set of issues and tackle the underlying causes that can ultimately contribute solutions to the wider array of problems.

In short, science at, and funded by, USDA needs to be focused, leverage other resources, and concentrate on select priorities at a large scale to produce useful outcomes. Our success in science ultimately will be matched by impact in society.

Comments from the Director: Where NIFA is

HeadedMore of our awards will have

requirements for an education and/or outreach through extension; they will require creating opportunities to recruit more students in the excitement of research in agriculture; we won’t be funding as many small, individual-investigator grants as in the past.

Comments from the Director: Where NIFA is

HeadedThese five areas represent our vision for

USDA science, and identify the expectations we have for what USDA science will accomplish for the American people:1. Global Food Security and Hunger2. Climate Change3. Sustainable Energy4. Childhood Obesity5. Food Safety

January 6th Announcement

AFRI RFAs in February 2010 will commit up to $800 million in funding for new grants, contingent on annual appropriations in following years (Huh? Only $262M)

AFRI will support work in the following 2008 Farm Bill “priority science” areas : plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; renewable energy, natural resources, and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. Programs focused on these areas will use a disciplinary-based approach to building a foundation of knowledge critical for solving current and future problems.

January 6th Announcement

AFRI will support interdisciplinary, multi-functional projects in five “societal challenges”: Keep American agriculture competitive while

ending world hunger Improve nutrition and end child obesity Improve food safety for all Americans Secure America’s energy future through renewable

biofuels Mitigate and adapt agriculture to variations in

climate Five separate RFAs, with multi-institutional,

integrated grants up to $25M over 5 years with possible renewal grants for some programs

January 6th Announcement

$5M for NIFA Fellows program $800M - $262M = $538M (÷4)

$133M in large grants for 2010 (half of AFRI)

Timing for grant preparation (minimum): 9 weeks for programs with letters of intent; 90 days for large, complex projects; 4 weeks for others

Specialty Crops – Legislative Definition

Specialty crops are defined in law as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.

SCRI Legislation

SCRI Legislation

SCRI Program Summary

SCRI 2008-2009 Results

2008 2009Applications

paneled231 209

Total funds requested

$266M $317M

Panels 3 5

Awards 27 (9) 35 (11)

Success rate 9% (31%) 13% (40%)

Range $350K – $6M $423K – $5.2M

SCRI 2008-2009 Results

Total Funds Awarded

PB&G PM PP&PE Tech Food Safety

$28,365,000 $3,786,571 $4,836,260 $10,438,688 $6,128,772 $3,174,709$46,653,354 $8,470,733 $11,976,052 $14,019,209 $7,225,477 $4,961,881

Things to Remember Big funding changes ahead for NIFA Some large projects will be initiated with

out-year funding commitments (Centers, Consortia??)

Both Farm Bill (disciplinary science) and Administration (societal challenge) priorities are accommodated

Summing discretionary, mandatory, and future commitments = $2B in 2010

Stay tuned, and hold on, it’s going to be a wild ride