FFAR » Grants & Funding » Our Funding & Approval Process

Our Funding & Approval Process

We support research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. This research generates actionable results that benefit farmers, consumers and the environment.

Our multi-step process begins with collecting broad input, continues with a rigorous review process and culminates with funding the highest-quality and most relevant research.

Concept Development

We engage with various sources to generate program concepts, including:

USDA
Commodity and farm groups
Research organizations and conferences
Convening events
FFAR stakeholders
FFAR staff
FFAR Board of Directors
FFAR Advisory Councils

Our Scientific Program Directors then review these concepts to ensure alignment with FFAR’s priorities. The respective Scientific Program Director also consults USDA to ensure the concept does not duplicate efforts.

Potential program concepts are further evaluated based on:

Mission alignment
Innovation
Potential impact across the food system
Actionable outcomes
Research needs
Interest/engagement from the private sector

Our Executive Director determines if the concept should be pursued.

Concept Clearance

Each Research Priority has an Advisory Council comprised of external scientists, agriculture practitioners and other stakeholders. The Advisory Council reviews and determines whether the prospective program concept aligns with the relevant Priority areas and will yield actionable results that solve critical food and agriculture challenges.

Program Approval

The program concept is presented to our Scientific Program Committee, a subset of Board members, for final approval. If approved, the program concept becomes a FFAR program.

Application Notification and Submission

Once the research programs are established, we fund innovative projects in those programs.

In addition to awarding grants or prizes through competitive programs, we may choose to directly fund some research. At times, we know of an individual or organization that is well-suited to conduct the necessary research and we may directly solicit a proposal from them. Applications received in response to a direct solicitation, like competitive research applications, are subject to the same rigorous scientific review process and matching funding requirement.

Applicants can view funding opportunities within specific research programs on the Open Opportunities page. Our website includes information about each opportunity, including eligibility, research requirements, review criteria, how to apply and deadlines.

Application Review

All applications undergo a rigorous review process, including reviews by External Peer Reviewers and our Advisory Councils.

External Peer Review

Independent External Peer Reviewers, scientific experts within the respective topic area, evaluate applications based on criteria that may include:

Scientific or technical merit
Potential impact and relevance
Project strategy and feasibility
Innovation

Advisory Council Review

Advisory Councils, comprised of individuals with significant industry or scientific expertise in each of our Research Priorities, consider applications based on: