USDA,NIFA-BARD Aquaculture

Document Title

USDA,NIFA-BARD Climate-Smart Agriculture – Aquaculture in the Desert
Guidelines for Application

Description

This program augments the already existing collaboration through the USDA,NIFA-BARD framework, where Israeli scientists, funded by BARD, are eligible to join a USDA,NIFA-funded project. Research conducted by Israeli scientists will enhance one or more of the objectives of the USDA,NIFA- funded project as well as benefit Israeli agriculture. The relevant projects are those funded up to and beyond the 2024 fiscal year.

This program is integrated in both BARD’s plan to feature Climate-Smart Agriculture and Israeli Ministry of Agriculture’s office of the Chief Scientist’s focus on climate-smart aquaculture for dry climates and support desert farming. The implementation of this program is contingent upon the timely formal approval of funding by the Israeli governmental authority.

Priorities

The The program aims to enhance food security and production of quality protein through investment in research and development that will promote land-based aquaculture systems and desert farming. The program will fund studies that promote the understanding of biological and ecological systems related to fish, algae, and seafood. It will support investment in the advancement of fish diversity and quality.

Conducted research will aid the conservation and protection of Israel and US sea and aquatic resources.

It will also support desert farming research focused on management of agricultural production under desert conditions, with the overall objective of promoting sustainable and climate-smart agriculture.

Eligibility

Any researcher who is affiliated with an Israeli government, academic or non-profit private research institution is eligible to apply.

Concurrent Funding

Researchers with current BARD funding are eligible to apply. We will not accept proposals for enhancing existing research projects. We will not consider currently submitted proposals to the general BARD research program nor for proposals that overlap with currently funded BARD research grants.

NIFA Collaborator

The US Collaborator must be funded from the list of funded NIFA projects published on the BARD website (see list).

Funding Level

The maximum grant will be the lesser of either $260,000 for 3 years or the total award of the US NIFA collaborator. If there are multiple proposals for a given USDA,NIFA collaborator, then the funding for this group of proposals will be limited by the funding level of the NIFA collaborator. Thus, if the level of funding for the given USDA,NIFA collaborator is less than what would be necessary to fund all these collaborations, BARD will fund only proposals that:
    1) Are considered worthy in comparison to all the proposals submitted
    2) Only the top proposal(s) in the group whose total does not exceed the NIFA funding level.

Foreign travel is as per the instructions in the BARD Guidelines for Research Proposals page 8. The trip of the US scientist to Israeli is to be financed from the budget of the Israeli institution.

NIFA-BARD Application Submission:

The deadline for submission is November 15, 2023, to prepare a full proposal which includes the following (see the general BARD Guidelines for Research Proposals p.5-7 for specific instructions regarding the content of the proposal):

· Cover Page

· A List of Abbreviations used in the proposal are to be included in the Cover Page.

· Budget Tables

· Abstract

· Detailed Description of the Research Plan/Proposal body - Limited to 15 pages

· Description of the expected results and their relevance to agriculture

· Timetable of the Work Plan

· Details of Cooperation

· Facilities: Briefly detail the facilities to be dedicated to the project in each funded institution.

· Relevant Bibliography

· Curriculum Vitae

· Letter of agreement by the NIFA partner