Citrus Disease Research and Extension Pre-App | USDA NIFA SCRI 006550

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 006550

The "Citrus Disease Research and Extension Pre-App" opportunity (USDA NIFA SCRI 006550) is a mandatory federal grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under CFDA 10.309. It is structured as a pre-application (often used as an initial screening step before an invited full proposal) for Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension (CDRE) funding in fiscal year 2018. The core purpose is to support projects that respond directly to citrus disease priorities identified by the Citrus Disease Sub-committee (CDS) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board, ensuring that funded work aligns with nationally recognized, stakeholder-informed needs related to citrus health and production challenges.

A defining feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on integrating research and extension into a single, coordinated effort. Rather than funding purely laboratory research or standalone outreach, NIFA is looking for proposals that connect discovery and practical application: generating new knowledge or tools while also building pathways to get those results into the hands of growers, crop advisors, extension educators, and other end users. The solicitation highlights systems-based and trans-disciplinary approaches, signaling a preference for teams that can address citrus disease problems as complex, multi-factor issues involving plant pathology, entomology, horticulture, breeding and genetics, diagnostics, epidemiology, data science, economics, and on-the-ground implementation. In practice, that means competitive pre-applications would be expected to show how multiple disciplines and partners will work together in a coherent plan that considers the entire production system and real-world constraints.

Eligibility is broad and intentionally inclusive of many research and implementation-capable entities. Pre-applications may be submitted by federal agencies, national laboratories, colleges and universities, research institutions and organizations, private organizations or corporations, State Agricultural Experiment Stations, Cooperative Extension Services, individuals, or groups made up of two or more of these entity types. This wide eligibility supports the program's trans-disciplinary and applied focus by enabling collaborations that mix academic expertise, government resources, extension delivery capacity, and private-sector innovation. The opportunity is categorized as a grant funding instrument under the agriculture funding activity category, reinforcing that the supported work should contribute to agricultural outcomes, particularly those tied to citrus disease mitigation, management, and recovery.

Key administrative details included in the source information indicate the opportunity was created on 2018-04-17, with an original closing date of 2018-06-29. The notice does not list an award ceiling or the expected number of awards in the provided data, which suggests those details may have been defined elsewhere in the full announcement or were not populated in the summarized record. As a pre-application, the submission would typically focus on a concise description of the problem being addressed, alignment with CDS/NAREEE priorities, the proposed approach and team structure, and how research outputs will be translated into extension products or adoption pathways. Overall, the opportunity is aimed at accelerating practical, coordinated solutions to pressing citrus disease challenges by combining rigorous science with strong extension strategies designed to produce measurable impacts in citrus-producing regions.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Citrus Disease Research and Extension Pre-App" 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 2018-04-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-06-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA SCRI 006550

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