FY2024 Scientific Cooperation Research Program

Overview

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Fellowship Programs, announces this funding opportunity to support the Scientific Cooperation and Research Program by issuing a new award(s). This opportunity is available to State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States, as defined at 7 USC 3103 and is intended to support applied research, extension, and education collaborations between U.S. researchers and their foreign counterparts from selected emerging market economies.

USDA’s FAS administers the SCRP. This program has historically supported up to 12 collaborative research programs annually. All applications must include foreign collaborations, and project timelines should not exceed two years. Funding may be allocated to foreign collaborators through subawards.

The SCRP supports FAS’s strategic goals by mobilizing the scientific community’s accumulated knowledge and technologies through the funding of joint research, extension, and education projects. These projects are between U.S. researchers and researchers from selected emerging market economies, last up to two years, and address issues including but not limited to agricultural trade and market access, animal and plant health, biotechnology, food safety and security, climate smart agriculture, and sustainable natural resource management. Since 1980, the program has supported hundreds of projects to enhance the technical skills of agricultural professionals and help beneficiary countries further develop their relationships with the U.S. agriculture sector.

In the 2024 program cycle, the SCRP will support applied research, extension, and education projects between U.S. researchers and their foreign counterparts from selected emerging market economies (as defined at 7 USC § 5623(d)(1), generally including countries listed in the low- and middle-income groups by the World Bank) who seek to create practical solutions to challenges faced

In general, applications must support one or more of the following strategies of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (Public Law No: 114-195):

1. Accelerate inclusive, agricultural-led economic growth that reduces global poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, particularly among women and children.
2. Increase the productivity, incomes, and livelihoods of small-scale producers, especially women, by working across agricultural value chains, enhancing local capacity to manage agricultural resources effectively, and expanding producer access to local and international markets. 
3. Build resilience to food shocks among vulnerable populations and households while reducing reliance upon emergency food assistance.
4. Create an enabling environment for agricultural growth and investment, including through the promotion of secure and transparent property rights.
5. Improve the nutritional status of women and children, with a focus on reducing child stunting, including through the promotion of highly nutritious foods, diet diversification, and nutritional behaviors that improve maternal and child health.
6. Align with and leverage broader United States strategies and investments in trade, economic growth, science and technology, agricultural research and extension, maternal and child health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Multiple Applications/Awards:
An individual applicant may submit more than one application in response to this NOFO, and may be offered more than one award.