Grant Funding Opportunities

ERS issues cooperative agreements and grant awards, and works with land-grant partners and others on plans of work and other administrative matters. ERS sponsors two major competitive grants and cooperative agreements programs:

• The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) at ERS funds economic research on USDA's domestic food and nutrition assistance programs. These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and child nutrition programs, such as the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. The purpose of the research is to meet the critical information needs of the Administration, Congress, program managers, policy officials, clients, the research community, and the public at large. Major research themes of FANRP are diet and nutritional outcomes, food program targeting and delivery, and program dynamics and administration.
  
  FANRP funds extramural research through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that are competitively awarded through a tightly run peer review process. The publication Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, Final Report: Fiscal 2009 Activities has descriptions of past awards. Information on Research Funding Opportunities describes opportunities to submit proposals for grants and cooperative agreements.

• The Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM) awards grants and cooperative agreements between $50,000 and $250,000. The program is publicly announced and competitively awarded through the use of peer review panels. Information on funded extramural research and current funding opportunities may be found on the PREISM page.

PREISM funds extramural research through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that are competitively awarded through a tightly run peer review process. The deadline for submitting proposals for fiscal 2008 has passed.

• The Economics of Markets for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (EMAGG) funds economic research in three broad areas related to U.S. agricultural participation in proposed greenhouse gas markets. Research focuses on the economics of U.S. agricultural activities and practices, including agricultural land use, that increase carbon sequestration or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, together referred to as "greenhouse gas reductions." Specific research areas include (1) estimates of supply curves of greenhouse gas reductions from U.S. agriculture, (2) the integrity of agricultural greenhouse gas reductions procured through markets, including provisions designed to enhance this integrity; and (3) the role of non-neoclassical behavior in the provision of agricultural greenhouse gas reductions through markets.

EMAGG funds extramural research through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that are competitively awarded through a tightly run peer review process. The deadline for submitting proposals for fiscal 2010 has passed.

For information about all Federal funding opportunities, visit www.Grants.gov.

ERS-Issued Significant Guidance Documents

All ERS awards are governed by the appropriate Federal and agency-specific regulations (for example, OMB Circulars and the Code of Federal Regulations). Please refer to the request for applications, the award document, or the content of the regulations for applicable regulatory information or guidance.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published two Federal Register Notices on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 (69 FR 26275 and 69 FR 26281). The Notices implement changes affecting the location of policy guidance for grants and other agreements.

In the first notice, OMB established a single title in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (i.e., title 2 of the CFR) along with two subtitles (i.e., subtitles A and B). Subtitle A of title 2 is to house OMB's guidance to Federal agencies for grants and agreements. Subtitle B of title 2 will house agency regulations implementing the OMB guidance.

By way of the second notice, OMB relocates the existing OMB Circular A-110 to title 2 in the CFR, subtitle A, chapter II, subchapter B, part 215.

Contact Information

Members of the public who wish to request that the agency issue, reconsider, modify, or rescind a significant guidance document, or to complain that the agency is not following the procedures in OMB's Bulletin or is improperly treating a significant guidance document as a binding requirement, may do so by contacting Leslee Lowstuter.

See also USDA Significant Guidance Documents

Also visit www.regulations.gov to view and comment on regulations and other actions for Federal agencies.