Agricultural Produce Safety Improvement Program

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is USDA’s flagship competitive grant program that provides funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. Human health is affected by the safety, quality, and nutritional value of food. Knowledge generated from the Improving Food Safety program will enhance the microbial, chemical, and physical safety of foods by improving control strategies and detection methodologies for foodborne contaminants.

1862 Land-Grant Institutions

1890 Land-Grant Institutions

1994 Land-Grant Institutions

For-profit Organizations Other Than Small Businesses

Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Individuals

Native American Tribal Orgs, not Federally recognized Tribal Governments

Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS status, other than Institutions of Higher Ed

Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS status, other than Institutions of Higher Ed

Other or Additional Information (See below)

Small Business

State Agricultural Experiment Stations

State Controlled Institutions of Higher Ed

The NIFA program page itself publishes no financial terms at all — no award ceiling or floor, no cost-share percentage, no match requirement, no project duration. It states only what the program funds ("funding for research projects related to detection or mitigation of food contamination") and directs you to the governing Request for Applications.

This is a competitive research grant program, not producer cost-share. Awards are made under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Program, within the Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health priority area. From that program's current Grants.gov notice (USDA-NIFA-AFRI-011134):

• Award floor $10,000; award ceiling $10,000,000 — but note these are the outer bounds across all six AFRI priority areas, not caps specific to Improving Food Safety. Per-program-area and per-project-type caps live in the RFA itself.

• Estimated program funding $300,000,000; applications accepted through December 31, 2026.

• Cost sharing: not required for the Foundational and Applied Science Program.

• "Research-only, extension-only, and integrated research, education and/or extension projects are solicited in this Request for Applications (RFA)."

Eligible applicants are institutions — land-grant universities (1862, 1890, 1994), Hispanic-Serving Institutions, State Agricultural Experiment Stations, state-controlled institutions of higher education, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, small businesses and other for-profits, non-federally-recognized Native American tribal organizations, and individuals. Read the current AFRI Foundational and Applied Science RFA for the real dollar limits before budgeting.

AFRI Notice of Funding

https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/funding-opportunities/agriculture-food-research-initiative-foundational-applied-science