Request for Applications (RFA): Research and Development Risk Management Research Partnerships

The summary for the Request for Applications (RFA): Research and Development Risk Management Research Partnerships grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Research Development, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Request for Applications (RFA): Research and Development Risk Management Research Partnerships: A. Background The Risk Management Agency (RMA), on behalf of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), is committed to meeting the risk management needs and improving or developing risk management tools for the nations farmers and ranchers. It does this by offering Federal crop insurance and other risk management products and tools through a network of private-sector entities and by overseeing the creation of new products, seeking enhancements in existing products, and by expanding the use of a variety of risk management tools. Risk management tools include a variety of risk management options and strategies developed to assist producers in mitigating the risks inherent in agricultural production. Risk management tools may include: financial management tools to mitigate price and production risks; tools to enhance measurement and prediction of risks in order to facilitate risk diversification; tools to improve production management, harvesting, record keeping or marketing. For the purposes of this announcement, risk management tools do not include insurance products, plans of insurance, policies, modifications thereof or any related material. B. Purpose The purpose of this program is to fund partnership agreements that assist producers, minimize their production risks, and/or develop risk management tools. The agreements are for the development of risk management tools for use directly by agricultural producers. To aid in meeting these goals each partnership agreement awarded through this program will provide the recipient with funds, guidance, and the substantial involvement of RMA to carry out these risk management initiatives. Applications requesting funding for the development of insurance products, plans of insurance, policies, modifications thereof or related materials are excluded from consideration under this announcement. C. Authorization In accordance with section 522(d) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act), FCIC announces the availability of funding for risk management research activities. Priority will be given to those activities addressing the need for risk management tools for producers of the following agricultural commodities (For purposes of this announcement, these commodities are collectively referred to as Priority Commodities): Agricultural commodities covered by section 196 of the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7333) (Noninsured Assistance Program (NAP)). Commodities in this group are commercial crops that are not covered by catastrophic risk protection crop insurance, are used for food or fiber (except livestock), and specifically include, but are not limited to, floricultural, ornamental nursery, Christmas trees, turf grass sod, aquaculture (including ornamental fish), and industrial crops. Specialty crops. Commodities in this group may or may not be covered under a Federal crop insurance plan and include, but are not limited to, fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, syrups, honey, roots, herbs, and highly specialized varieties of traditional crops. Underserved commodities. This group includes: (a) commodities, including livestock that are covered by a Federal crop insurance plan but for which participation in an area is below the national average; and (b) commodities, including livestock, with inadequate crop insurance coverage. D. Objectives The project objectives listed below highlight the research priorities of RMA. The objectives are listed in priority order, with the most important objective designated as 1, the second most important designated as 2, etc. The order of priority will be considered in making awards. The suggested emphasis discussed within each objective is not meant to be exhaustive. Applicants may propose other topics within any project objective but justification for those topics must be provided. RMA encourages proposals that address multiple risks and will result in the development of tools that provide an integrated or holistic approach to risk mitigation. Preference will be given to such proposals. Proposals may address multiple objectives, but each proposal must specify a single primary objective for funding purposes. In the order of priority, the project objectives are: 1. To develop risk management tools to assist producers in finding alternative products, techniques or strategies related to disease management (e.g., soybean rust) and/or pest mitigation under various farming practices. 2. To develop risk management tools to assist producers in reducing the impact of multiple-year losses, such as the multiple-year losses due to sustained or recurring drought and to increase the economic and production stability of agricultural producers. 3. To develop risk management tools to assist forage and rangeland producers in improving techniques for one or more of the following: managing production, e.g., optimization of grazing patterns; establishing and maintaining forage production records; drought mitigation; and harvesting or marketing production. 4. To develop risk management tools to assist limited resource and/or traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers and/or producers with limited English language proficiency that traditionally produce agricultural commodities covered by NAP, specialty crops and underserved agricultural commodities. The tools developed under this objective should address risks that may be specific to the targeted producers and/or will assist the targeted producers in gaining meaningful access to existing risk management tools and information. (Definitions: A limited resource farmer is a producer or operator of a farm with an annual gross income of $20,000 or less derived from all sources of revenue or a producer on a farm of less than 25 acres (aggregated for all crops) where a majority of the producers gross income from farming operations does not exceed $20,000; and/or direct or indirect gross farm sales not more than $100,000 in each of the previous two years adjusted for inflation using Prices Paid by Farmer Index as compiled by the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) and a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four, or less than 50 percent of county median household income in each of the previous two years (to be determined annually using Commerce Department Data). Underserved farmers and ranchers include: Women, African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Hispanics.) 5. To develop risk management tools to assist livestock producers in improving techniques for one or more of the following: planning and managing the production of livestock, including disease management and control; improving techniques for breeding of livestock; and managing price, revenue, or production and market risks. 6. To develop risk management tools to assist agricultural producers in developing a better understanding of the interaction of financial markets, marketing, crop insurance, and production costs and assist producers in the determination of the optimal combination of risk management strategies. 7. To clarify labor requirements and assist producers in complying with requirements to better meet the physically intense and time-compressed planting, tending, and harvesting requirements associated with the production of specialty crops and underserved agricultural commodities. 8. To develop risk management tools encouraging self-protection for production agricultural enterprises vulnerable to losses due to terrorism. 9. To provide risk management tools to State foresters or equivalent officials for the prescribed use of burning on private forest land for the prevention, control and suppression of fire. 10. To develop risk management tools to further increase the economic and production stability of wild salmon fishermen.