The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the opening of the $125 million Research Facilities Act Program (RFAP), seeking to kickstart agricultural research facility development and research nationwide. Applications are due by July 17.
While the program will directly support agriculture research initiatives, it will prioritize awards that fund construction and development projects that facilitate this work. Many research institutions across the nation must contend with aging facilities and long-standing deferred maintenance costs that impede research progress and efficacy.
Eligible applicants include:
- 1994, 1890 and 1862 land-grant institutions.
- State agricultural experiment stations.
- Accredited schools or colleges of veterinary medicine that conduct animal health and disease research.
- Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities.
- Non-land-grant colleges of agriculture.
- Insular area institutions/institutions of higher learning.
- Institutions eligible for McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act.
- Other entities eligible to receive funds under a capacity and infrastructure program.
Recipients may use awards to build, alter, acquire, modernize, renovate or remodel agricultural research facilities concentrating on researching the food and agricultural sciences. These buildings will strengthen the research capacity to support farmers, ranchers and producers across the nation.
To qualify for the program, recipients must provide a 1:1 match for all funding received. The awards will be split across four levels:
- Level 1 – Planning Grants: Offering between $100,000 to $200,000 for activities like needs assessments, site surveys, preliminary designs and cost estimates.
- Level 2 – Small Facility Upgrades: Offering between $250,000 to $2 million for activities like renovations and lab modernization.
- Level 3 – Mid-Scale Construction/Expansion: Offering between $2 million to $10 million for expansions, specialized research wings and retrofits.
- Level 4 – Large-Scale Research Complex: Offering between $10 million to $30 million for new buildings, specialized labs and controlled environment research facilities.
A wide variety of different structures and purposes will be applicable for the RFAP. These primarily include single buildings, stand-alone facilities or multi-building completes that enable and improve research capacity. Examples of eligible structures may include research labs; specimen storage; instrumentation suites; classroom, training or experiential learning spaces; integrated complexes that co-locate research, extension and teaching functions; and controlled environment facilities.
Photo by Dmitry Kharitonov from Pexels
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