FY2023 Scientific Cooperation Research Program | USDA FAS 10961 0700 10 23 0002

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FAS 10961 0700 10 23 0002

The FY2023 Scientific Cooperation Research Program (SCRP) is a discretionary funding opportunity run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), designed to fund short, practical, internationally collaborative projects in agriculture. The program’s central requirement is that every proposal must include a foreign research collaboration, pairing U.S.-based researchers with counterparts in selected emerging market economies. Projects are intended to be time-limited and action-oriented, with a maximum project period of two years. Funding can also flow to the foreign partner through a subaward arrangement, which is an important feature for teams that need to support in-country work, training, trials, data collection, or extension activities led by collaborators abroad.

SCRP’s purpose is to advance FAS strategic goals by tapping into scientific and technical expertise to solve real-world agricultural problems through joint applied research, extension, and education. The work is meant to translate knowledge and technology into practical outcomes that help farmers, strengthen agricultural systems, and improve trade capacity. The program emphasizes issues that affect agricultural productivity and the ability of countries to participate in regional and global markets. Example topic areas specifically called out include agricultural trade and market access, animal and plant health, biotechnology, food safety and security, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable natural resource management. Historically, since the program began in 1980, SCRP has supported hundreds of projects and has been framed as a tool for building technical skills among agricultural professionals while also strengthening longer-term relationships between beneficiary countries and the U.S. agricultural sector.

For the 2023 cycle, the program focuses on collaborations with researchers from emerging market economies as defined in federal statute (7 USC 5623(d)(1)), generally aligning with the World Bank’s low- and middle-income country groupings. The program description highlights that funded projects should aim to produce practical solutions to challenges faced by farmers and to help build regional or global trade capacities in the target countries. In other words, proposals are expected to move beyond basic research and show a clear line to implementation, adoption, capacity building, or market-related impact within the two-year window.

Applications are also encouraged to align with one or more strategies from the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-195). Those strategies include accelerating inclusive, agriculture-led economic growth that reduces poverty, hunger, and malnutrition (with particular attention to women and children); increasing productivity and incomes for small-scale producers (especially women) by strengthening value chains, local capacity, and market access; building resilience to food shocks to reduce dependence on emergency food aid; improving the enabling environment for agricultural growth and investment, including secure and transparent property rights; improving nutrition outcomes for women and children with an emphasis on reducing child stunting through nutritious foods, diet diversification, and healthier nutrition behaviors; and aligning with broader U.S. efforts in trade, economic growth, science and technology, agricultural research and extension, maternal and child health, nutrition, and water/sanitation/hygiene. Practically speaking, this means strong proposals will often describe who benefits, how capacity is built, what adoption pathway exists, and how the work fits into broader food security and development goals rather than operating as a standalone academic exercise.

Key grant details from the notice include the funding opportunity title FY2023 Scientific Cooperation Research Program, funding opportunity number USDA FAS 10961 0700 10 23 0002, and CFDA number 10.961. The agency is USDA FAS. The eligible applicant categories include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education, with additional eligible entities referenced under an “Others” category depending on the full eligibility language in the announcement. The award ceiling is listed as $50,000, and the opportunity anticipated around 20 awards for this cycle (while also noting that historically the program has supported up to 10 collaborative research programs annually, suggesting year-to-year variation in scale or award structuring). The posting shows a creation date of May 19, 2023, with an original closing date of July 7, 2023.

• The Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2023 Scientific Cooperation Research Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.961.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 19, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 07, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for USDA FAS 10961 0700 10 23 0002

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