Grantee FAQs

Our Funding & Approval process outlines how we develop research programs and fund research through those programs.

We award grants in three ways:

1. Request for Application (RFA): We issue a Request for Application to solicit ideas from the broadest group of researchers. Some of FFAR’s programs issue RFAs annually and others are a one-time opportunity. The highest quality proposals are selected for funding through a rigorous scientific review process.
2. Prizes: We develop prize competitions to solve an imminent problem in food and agriculture science. Prizes are awarded to individuals or organizations who meet the prize criteria and solve the food and agriculture challenge. Teams of experts and partners serve as the judging panel in creating criteria and selecting prize winners.
3. Direct Solicitation: When we know of a specific individual or organization that is well-suited to conduct the necessary research, a proposal may be directly solicited from that organization. The proposal is subject to the same rigorous scientific review process and matching funding requirement as other proposals.

We welcome individuals to propose a research concept through our option to Submit Your Own Concept.

We do not work in cycles, except for our Seeding Solutions and New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award programs. These programs run annually.

No, we are an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

As we are in part funded through Congress, we adhere to specific funding limitations.

Additionally, FFAR does not support organizations that have a policy of discriminating based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender expression or transition, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, whether the discrimination policies are written or are in practice. Our policy is to not provide grants to any organization that maintains such a policy.

Our Funding Limitations page outlines our policies on event sponsorship.

We accept applications with both one principal investigator and multiple co-investigators.

We generally require grantees publish research results in a peer-reviewed journal. We detail specific reporting requirements in RFAs and grant agreements.

Additionally, we ask grantees to notify us about any publications, results and media related to your research. Our Communications and Legislative Affairs Team can promote project impacts. We want to hear about:

• Results – even those that are preliminary
• News and media on your project
• Pictures, videos, infographics and other media content related to your grant
• Blog posts you authored and/or want to post on the FFAR Blog
• Awards (including recognition and funding) obtained for the FFAR-funded project
• Any congressional engagement
• Any updates that you think are exciting

As of July 2025, we allow new applicants to use up to 15% of the total direct costs requested from FFAR, and up to 15% of the direct costs on the required one-to-one matching funds towards indirect costs (IDC). These costs are also referred to as facilities and administration (F&A) costs. 

FFAR’s IDC allowance is an indirect cost rate applied to the total direct costs requested to be used for indirect costs by the institution.

Examples of direct costs include, but are not limited to, materials, supplies, equipment, salary support for work on a project, fees for data analysis and travel. 

Examples of IDCs include, but are not limited to departmental administration, rental or building costs and expenses for infrastructure. 

Upon request, FFAR can reduce the IDC of a project or sub-award to any rate below 15% provided that the IDC of matching funds is never lower than the IDC charged to FFAR funds. 

Unrecovered indirect cost, defined as the difference between a grantee’s federally negotiated IDC rate and FFAR’s 15% indirect cost allotment, must not be offered, and will not be accepted, as a match contribution. FFAR reserves the right to negotiate the match IDC on a case-by-case basis if the project’s matching funds are two-to-one or greater. 

Yes, all conditions of the award, including the 15% indirect cost, also apply to subcontractors. 

There are two types of match: in-kind and cash. Unless we specify otherwise in the RFA, at least 50 percent of the matching funds must be cash.

An in-kind match is the value of non-cash contributions of goods and services to a proposed project. To meet our matching requirements, in-kind match must be less than or equal to 50 percent of the total match share. Examples of in-kind match are donations of equipment, supplies, non-expendable property, volunteered professional time or service, donated use of facilities by a third party, etc.

FFAR was created by Congress and is governed by our enabling legislation. The compliance for grant-receiving institutions is based on the individual award documentation. FFAR recommends that all organizations develop their cost accounting standards based on their individual circumstances.