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Growing Impact Award Request for Applications

Open Opportunity

Program Contact

Growing Impact Award Team
Growingimpactaward@foundationfar.org

Grants Team

grants@foundationfar.org


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Pre-applications due September 3, 2025

About the Growing Impact Award

The Growing Impact Award is a competitive program designed to build on the successful research from past Seeding Solutions and New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award (NIA) recipients. This funding opportunity is available by invitation only to previous awardees who meet the selection criteria.

The Growing Impact Award program was established to build on FFAR’s successful investments and provide opportunities for high-performing projects to translate research outputs into greater impacts aligned with FFAR’s Research Strategy, benefiting U.S. agriculture. Research funded through this program will accelerate innovation, expand impact, strengthen public-private partnerships and encourage more integrated research of previous FFAR-funded projects.

FFAR expects to fund up to $10 million total under this program. Prospective projects must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  1. extends the original FFAR-funded work in a new dimension;
  2. expands the previous FFAR-funded approach to include new interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research approaches; and/or
  3. translates and applies the previous FFAR-funded research into a commercial application, product or service.

Growing Impact Award projects must be aligned with FFAR’s Research Strategy and contribute to one of the three research Priority Areas: Cultivating Thriving Production Systems, Sustaining Vibrant Agroecosystems or Bolstering Healthy Food Systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to apply?

This opportunity is invite only. This program is open to investigators on FFAR-funded Seeding Solutions and NIA projects that either 1) will complete 75% of the award period of performance by November 5, 2025 (including any no-cost extensions) or 2) were completed on or after November 5, 2023. If invited to submit a full application, all required annual and final reports must have been submitted and approved by FFAR by the Growing Impact Award full application deadline of November 5, 2025.

If you have questions about eligibility, please email growingimpactaward@foundationfar.org.

Are all previously awarded Seeding Solutions or NIA projects eligible to apply for funding through this program?

Not quite. This program is open to investigators on FFAR-funded Seeding Solutions and NIA projects that either 1) will complete 75% of the award period of performance by November 5, 2025 (including any no-cost extensions) or 2) were completed on or after November 5, 2023. Projects completed before November 5, 2023 are not eligible to apply.

Who can apply?

Any investigator from the original FFAR-funded project under Seeding Solutions or NIA is eligible to be the PI on the Growing Impact Award proposal, but only one application can be submitted from each previously funded award.

  1. I haven’t submitted my final reports; can I still apply? All required annual and final reports must have been submitted and approved by FFAR by the Growing Impact Award full proposal deadline of November 5, 2025.
  2. I moved to a different institution; can I still apply? Yes.
  3. Can my institution submit more than one proposal? Yes, institutions are not limited to the number of proposals submitted to this program.
  4. I participated in an eligible project; how do I know if I can submit as a PI to this program? Contact your original PI, or if that is not possible, contact your FFAR Scientific Program Director.
What research areas does this program support?

Research Areas Supported: Growing Impact Award projects must be aligned with FFAR’s Research Strategy and contribute to one of the three research Priority Areas – Cultivating Thriving Production Systems, Sustaining Vibrant Agroecosystems or Bolstering Healthy Food Systems.

Proposals must also meet at least one of the following criteria:

  1. Extends the original FFAR-funded work in a new dimension;
  2. Expands the previous FFAR-funded approach to include new interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research approaches; and/or
  3. Translates and applies the previous FFAR-funded research into a commercial application, product or service.
What is required for the pre-application?

Previous Proposal

  • What is the title of the previous FFAR-funded NIA or Seeding Solutions award which the submission will be related to?
  • What is the reference number of the previous FFAR-funded NIA or Seeding Solutions award which this submission will be related to?
  • Who was the Principal Investigator (PI) for the previous FFAR-funded NIA or Seeding Solutions award which this submission will be related to?

Growing Impact Award Proposal

  • Organization Information
  • Principal Investigator (name, affiliation, contact information)
  • Project Title (up to 50 words)
  • Project Timeline
    • Proposed project start date
    • Proposed project duration (must be between 12-60 calendar months)
  • Geographic Location of Research

Proposal Information

  • Which of the three FFAR research Priority Areas will the Growing Impact Award proposal most closely align with? (select 1 of the 3)
  • Provide a short statement of Principal Investigator suitability, referencing their role in the previous FFAR-funded project. (up to 200 words) (It is recommended to include article links or other scientific output citations from the previous project).
  • Provide up to five key words or phrases representing the core scientific concepts in the Growing Impact Award proposal.
  • Provide a short description of the Growing Impact Award proposal topic (up to 500 words).

Attachments

If the PI for the Growing Impact Award proposal is different from the PI on the original FFAR-funded project, a letter of recommendation from the original PI is required.

What is required for the full application?

Further guidance will be provided when full application invitations are sent. The information below can be referenced for planning purposes.

Required Components

  • PI and Key Personnel Information
  • Current and Pending Support
  • Project Title (up to 250 characters)
  • Project Start and End Dates
  • Geographic Location(s) (city, state and congressional district where the proposed research will be conducted)
  • Short summary of the original FFAR-funded project including what hypotheses were tested and the results from that project that inform this new proposal. (500 words)
  • Statement of how the Growing Impact Award proposal will build from the original work and what new idea will be explored. (250 words)
  • Statement from PI on why they are the right investigator to lead this next phase of work. (250 words)
  • Growing Impact Award Project Abstract (250 words)
  • Project Narrative (up to 5,000 words)
    • Project objectives and goals (up to 250 words)
    • Project description and approach, text only (up to 3,500 words)
    • Anticipated outcomes or outputs (up to 500 words)
    • Data management plan (up to 250 words)
  • Budget Summary
    • Total proposed budget (FFAR request + match)
    • Total FFAR funding request
    • Total matching contributions, if applicable
    • Matching funder information, if applicable
  • Budget overview and justification (up to 1,000 words)
  • Intellectual Property Management Plan, if applicable (up to 500 words)
  • Organizational Assurances (research involving human subjects, vertebrate animals, recombinant DNA, national security implications, hazardous materials, human fetal tissue and NEPA review).

Required Attachments

  • Failure to provide these attachments will result in the application’s disqualification.
  • Budget Form (link to relevant/updated form)
  • Matching Fund Verification Letter(s)
  • Current and Pending Support (required for PI and Key Personnel)
  • Project timeline (by year), with tasks organized by project objectives
  • References cited (will not count towards total word limit)
  • PI and Key Personnel Bio-sketches (five-page limit per individual)

Optional Attachments

  • Supporting figures, tables, graphics or equations (will not count towards total word limit)
  • Three-Slide Summary or Description of the Project
  • Letters of Support. Applicants may provide letters of institutional, collaborator or stakeholder support for the proposed project. Please combine all letters of support into a single PDF document before uploading as an attachment.
What is the funding availability?

Individual proposal budget requests may range from $600k to $4M total ($300k to $2M requested from FFAR). Projects must have a planned duration of 12-60 months. FFAR will make up to $10M million in awards under this program.

Are matching funds required?

Yes, at a minimum 1:1 ratio. Applicants should indicate that eligible matching funds have been identified at the time of submitting the pre-application. Complete certification will be required at the full application stage.

Is this award considered a renewal?

No. Any applications submitted under the Growing Impact Award opportunity will be treated as new projects.

Is peer review required?

Not at the pre-application stage. All applicants who submit a pre-application and successfully meet the eligibility criteria will be invited to submit a full application, which will then undergo a peer review process.

How can I apply?

Applications will follow a two-step process. The first step is to submit a pre-application through FFAR’s Grants Management System by September 3, 2025. Submissions will be reviewed for eligibility including:

1) that only one proposal is submitted per previous FFAR-funded Seeding Solutions or NIA research project;

2) that the PI of the new project was an investigator on the previous FFAR-funded project;

3) that the described completion date of the project is eligible; and

4) that all required requirements from the previous FFAR-funded project have been submitted and approved or will be submitted by the full application deadline.

After verification, invitations to submit a full application will be sent by September 24, 2025, with full proposals due by November 5, 2025.

Pre-Application Details

All applicants must submit their pre-application through FFAR’s online Grant Management System by September 3, 2025. Applications submitted outside of this System will not be considered.

To start a new pre-application or if you are a new user, please click here. If you are a new user, register for an account by clicking the “Create Account” button located under the “Sign In” button on the right side of the home page. Once you log in, you may begin working on the application. Please be sure to save your work often by clicking on “Save and Finish Later.” To access a saved application, please do so through your Grant Management Account.

To be fair to all our applicants, FFAR will not grant extensions to applicants who miss the deadlines posted in the Key Dates section.

Who can I contact for more information?

For general details, please visit the Growing Impact Award webpage which includes a list of frequently asked questions. If you have questions regarding the scope of a research idea for this program, please contact your FFAR Scientific Program Director. For general questions, eligibility for the program or if you are unsure who to contact at FFAR, please reach out to growingimpactaward@foundationfar.org.

FFAR is hosting an informational webinar on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 from noon to 1:00 PM (EST), and you can register here https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EJMml_hFTfCTzTN_DdVHZQ. All registrants will be provided a recording of the webinar.

For questions related to the online submission system, please contact FFAR’s Grant Management team at grants@foundationfar.org. We only accept grant inquiries by email. We strive to respond to inquiries within two (2) business days, but our response time depends on the volume of questions received and the complexity of the questions asked. Please note that we do not monitor this mailbox on evenings, weekends or federal holidays.

 

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