Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) FY24 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (MAE) Opportunity | USDA FSA NHQ CRP 24 NOFO0001333

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FSA NHQ CRP 24 NOFO0001333

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is offering cooperative agreement funding under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) FY24 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (MAE) Opportunity to support projects that generate practical, decision-ready evidence about how CRP conservation approaches and technologies are performing. Up to $10 million total is available through this competition, with projects specifically expected to produce findings that can inform USDA policy decisions and/or improve how CRP is delivered to participants and communities. In other words, the goal is not just academic research for its own sake, but monitoring and evaluation work that helps CRP function better and demonstrate measurable outcomes.

For FY24, applicants must propose work that addresses at least one of four stated priority areas. The first priority, Ecosystem Benefits, focuses on assessing CRP impacts on natural resources, including climate mitigation and adaptation outcomes, wildlife habitat benefits, water quality and water quantity effects, and soil health improvements. The second priority, Bottom Up, Middle Out, is centered on the human and economic side of conservation: evaluating how CRP contributes to the viability and resilience of farm operations, and developing delivery strategies that help CRP better support economic growth and stability in rural communities. The third priority, Citizen Science, seeks ideas and tools that enable agricultural producers to monitor conditions on their enrolled CRP acres and share observations or lessons learned, which could broaden data collection and strengthen feedback loops between participants and the program. The fourth priority, Evaluating CRP in the Big Picture, looks beyond CRP as a standalone program and asks applicants to evaluate and propose strategies for how CRP fits into a broader natural resources management and conservation framework, including how it complements other conservation approaches and programs.

Eligibility is broadly open to non-Foreign, non-Federal entities. The eligible applicant types listed include state, county, and local governments; special district governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); and small businesses. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically signals that the federal agency anticipates substantial involvement during the project period compared to a standard grant.

Project periods can range from 1 to 5 years. Individual awards must be at least $500,000 and can be as large as $5,000,000. The opportunity indicates an expectation of around 10 awards, though actual selections depend on application quality and program needs. Applicants are encouraged to review the MAE program website for background, past reports, and examples of prior projects to better align proposals with what the program has historically supported and what kinds of outputs have been useful.

Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 31, 2024. For Grants.gov technical problems, applicants must work directly with Grants.gov Applicant Support (1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov), since awarding agency staff will not assist with account or platform issues. Questions to the agency are limited to clarifying specific information in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), such as dates, page references, or resolving inconsistencies; the agency will not provide feedback on eligibility edge cases or the strengths and weaknesses of a proposed project concept. FSA expects to announce selections by July 12, 2024, and aims to execute awards by September 30, 2024, with the note that these target dates may change.

• The Farm Service Agency in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) FY24 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (MAE) Opportunity" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.069.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-31. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Small businesses.

Apply for USDA FSA NHQ CRP 24 NOFO0001333

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