Improving Swine Production Air Quality

FFAR welcomes applications from research and higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

Anticipated Project Duration: 12-24 months

Total Amount Available: up to $1 million

Estimated Number of Awards: dependent on the application’s budget

Letter of Intent (LOI)
Applicants must submit the LOI using FFAR’S Grant Management System. All information provided will be treated as confidential. The most innovative and cutting-edge projects with significant potential for advancing FFAR’s mission will be invited to submit a full application. Applicants must submit an LOI to be invited to submit a full application.

Required Elements:
• Project Title
• Principal Investigator (name, affiliation, contact information)
• Key Personnel (name(s), affiliation(s), expertise)
• Project Duration (calendar months)
• Geographic Location(s) of Proposed Project
• Objectives and Relevance (up to 250 words)
• Anticipated Impacts (up to 250 words)
• Potential for Scaling Up (up to 250 words)
• Overview of Proposed Project (up to 1,500 words)
o Approach to conducting a landscape analysis of the currently available air quality assessment data and data sets, and the measurement methodology/-ies used to collect these data.
o Approach to framing and scoping research to develop an objective and reliable methodology for identification, and characterization of the chemical composition, attribution, and concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 present both inside and immediately outside (within 500 meters) of swine production facilities.
o Approach to validating the proposed methodology and its potential for scaling up.
o Opportunities for input from and/or collaboration with stakeholders (e.g., commercial livestock producers, veterinary service providers, local health department/air regulatory agency).
• Proposed Budget (up to U.S. $1 Million; FFAR limits indirect costs to 10% of total award)
o Total proposed budget
o Amount requested from FFAR
o Amount and source(s) of matching funds, if applicable.
o Budget Justification – summary of tentative expenses

Full Proposal
Only applicants with an approved LOI will be provided with an invitation to submit a full application.

Required Elements:
• Project Title
• Project Duration
• Principal Investigator (name, affiliation, contact information)
• Key Personnel (name(s), affiliation(s), expertise, and role of key personnel on the proposed work)
• Geographic location (city, state, congressional district) of the applicant organization.

• Geographic location (city, state, congressional district) where the proposed research will be conducted.
• Will your research outcome(s) be scale neutral? (up to 250 words)
• Project Executive Summary (up to 500 words)
• Project Goals and Objectives (up to 500 words)
• Potential Impacts of Research Outcome(s) (up to 500 words)
• Anticipated Outcomes or Outputs (up to 500 words)
• Project Description (up to 5,000 words)
o Methodology for conducting a landscape analysis of the currently available air quality assessment data and data sets, and the measurement methodology/-ies used to collect these data.
o Sources of information to be used in landscape analysis.
o Approach to setting criteria of objective and reliable measures of composition and concentration of PM10 and PM2.5.
o Approach to framing and scoping research to develop objective and reliable measures of exposure to different particle types of PM10 and PM2.5.
o Approach to developing a methodology for identification, and characterization of the chemical composition, concentration, and attribution of PM10 and PM2.5 present both inside and immediately outside of swine production facilities,
o Type of particles to be measured by the proposed methodology
o Approach to determination of the swine farm attributes that may generate different concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 (e.g., climate, farm design, geographic location, life stage of animal housed).
o Approach to prioritizing those sources of PM10 and PM2.5 likely to have the highest impact on worker and community health based on collected data and the existing literature.
o Plan for validation of the proposed methodology and its potential for scaling up,
o Identifying stakeholders needed to be involved in implementing the research and analyzing the results,
o Possible barriers to widespread adoption of your research outcome(s) and approaches for overcoming them
o Possible barriers that might hinder the optimal or intended use of your research outcome(s) and approaches for overcoming them
o Developing plans for integrated outreach and/or widescale dissemination of results and educational materials to producers and/or allied industry
• Organizational Capacity/Research Environment (up to 250 words)
• Data and Dissemination Plan (up to 500 words). The results provided in the final report submitted to FFAR will be shared with the public to begin Phase II of the program (budget dependent).
• Organization Assurances
o Research involving human subjects
o Research involving vertebrate animals
o Research involving Recombinant DNA
o Research involving National Security implications
o Research involving hazardous materials
o Research involving human fetal tissue

o Research involving NEPA review
• Proposed Budget (up to $500,000; FFAR limits indirect costs to 10% of total award)
o Total proposed budget
o Amount requested from FFAR
o Amount and source(s) of matching funds, if applicable.
• Budget justification (up to 1,000 words)
• Current and Pending Support Form: complete for everyone listed as PI or Key personnel on the project
• Required Attachments: Failure to provide these attachments will result in the application’s disqualification.
o References Cited
o Budget Form
o P.I. and Key Personnel Biosketch: five-page limit per individual listed as P.I. or key personnel in the project
o Project timeline (by year)
o Matching Fund Verification Letter(s), if applicable.
• Optional attachments: Applicants can upload any of the following as a single PDF document.
o Five (5)-slide summary
o Letters of Support: Applicants can provide letters of support for the proposed project, including from matching funders (if applicable).
o Graphics, Figures, Equations, and Tables not included in the Project Description: Applicants may upload a PDF document with graphics, figures, tables, or a list of equations to support the research program plan. Five-page limit.

Letters of Intent (LOI) and invited full proposals must be submitted by the deadline date through FFAR’s online application Grant Management System. Applications submitted outside of this System will not be considered.

To start a new application, please click here. If you are a new user, register for an account by clicking “Create Account” button located under the email address field on the left side of the home page. Once you log in, you may begin working on your 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.

Only LOIs and invited full proposals submitted by the deadline through FFAR’s Grant Management System will be accepted and considered eligible for evaluation. To be fair to all applicants, FFAR will not grant extensions to applicants who missed the deadlines posted in the Key Dates section.

As NPB is providing matching funds, applicants are not required to secure additional funds. However, additional contributions are welcome and, if available, should be reflected in the budget. Additional contributions will not influence the review of the application.

You can review the full call for letters of intent here.

All scientific and grants questions must be emailed to grants@foundationfar.org.

FFAR only accepts scientific, programmatic and grants inquiries by email. We strive to respond to inquiries within three business days, but our response time depends on the volume of questions we receive and the complexity of the questions asked. Please note that we do not monitor this mailbox on evenings, weekends or federal holidays.