Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension Pre-Applications

The Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension program is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Assistance Listing 10.309. The program is authorized as a competitive research and extension grants program to combat diseases of citrus, with mandatory funding provided through the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Development Trust Fund. For this funding opportunity, NIFA requests pre-applications that address priorities identified by the Citrus Disease Subcommittee of the National Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and Economics Advisory Board. The overarching goals are to combat Huanglongbing, or HLB, and its disease complex in ways that support financially sustainable U.S. citrus production, move research outcomes toward deployment on farms, and encourage research teams to integrate knowledge into practical grower solutions. Projects must integrate scientific research and extension activities and use collaborative, systems-based, trans-disciplinary approaches. FY 2026 priorities include development of commercial citrus varieties with genetic resistance or tolerance to HLB; regional management or eradication of Asian Citrus Psyllid; optimized detection and surveillance programs; cures and productivity strategies for HLB-infected trees; delivery systems for therapeutics, nutrition, and other HLB solutions; consolidation of screening efforts for intervention targets; techniques for culturing CLas bacteria; improved understanding of the HLB, vector, and citrus pathosystem; and improved understanding of citrus production ecology and the citrus greening disease complex. Projects must address only scientific research and extension activities. Applicants must not propose technical assistance, classified research, financial assistance to start, create, or expand a company, or activities to submit patent applications. Approximately $46,237,828 is available for the program, comprising FY25 and FY26 funds, and approximately 15 awards are anticipated. The program supports Standard Projects and Coordinated Agricultural Projects, or CAPs, through standard grants. Standard Projects may last up to three years and may receive up to approximately $1,500,000 in Federal funds for the project duration. They support targeted problem-solving efforts involving farm-level implementation or commercialization of proven solutions or examination of innovative ideas addressing Citrus Disease Subcommittee goals. CAP projects may last up to five years and may receive up to approximately $15,000,000. CAPs support larger national-scale, coordinated research and extension efforts and are expected to involve multi-state or multi-institutional teams. The program identifies a minimum award amount of $500,000. Applicants must provide matching contributions on a dollar-for-dollar basis for Federal funds awarded, although NIFA may waive the matching requirement under specified statutory circumstances. Indirect costs may not exceed 30 percent of Total Federal Funds Awarded. No more than 50 percent of total award dollars may be subcontracted to other parties without prior written approval, except for subcontracts to Federal agencies. Eligible pre-applicants are Federal agencies, national laboratories, colleges and universities, research institutions and organizations, private organizations or corporations, State Agricultural Experiment Stations, the Cooperative Extension Service, individuals, and groups consisting of two or more eligible entities. Duplicate or multiple submissions with the same lead Project Director are prohibited and will result in disqualification of both applications. An applicant may, however, serve as a Co-Project Director on multiple unique submissions while submitting one unique application as Lead Project Director during the same fiscal year. Competitive applications for dangerous gain-of-function research, as defined by the cited Executive Order, will not be accepted. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using funding opportunity number USDA-NIFA-SCRI-012018. Applicants must select Pre-application on the SF 424 R&R Cover Sheet, enter the estimated requested funding, and attach the Stakeholder Relevance Statement. The Project Summary or Abstract must explain alignment with ECDRE program goals. The Stakeholder Relevance Statement may not exceed three 1.5-spaced pages and must address the project title, estimated budget, significance and benefit, potential deliverables and milestones, translation of results into actionable recommendations or products, stakeholder engagement, project objectives and methodology, and relevant experience of the Project Director and key co-investigators. Standard Projects may identify up to two co-Project Directors and CAP projects up to four. Attachments must be submitted in PDF format. The Supplemental Information Form must identify the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension program and ECDRE program code and include the required conflict of interest information. NIFA evaluates pre-applications through a two-part process. Applications are first screened for compliance with administrative requirements. Compliant applications then undergo relevance review by a panel of industry reviewers representing the U.S. citrus industry, which recommends applications to be invited to submit full applications. Evaluation considers alignment with ranked Citrus Disease Subcommittee priorities, the importance and measurability of expected stakeholder impacts, stakeholder involvement in project goals and activities, delivery of information that enables implementation of improved HLB solutions by the end of the project, and the project team's experience with target stakeholders and the proposed research and extension approach. Invited applicants will receive instructions by email for accessing the full NOFO after relevance review. The pre-application deadline is 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time on November 2, 2026. Programmatic questions may be sent to ECDRE@usda.gov. Application and other administrative questions may be sent to grantapplicationquestions@usda.gov, and Grants.gov technical support is available at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035 and support@grants.gov.

Directly address one or more ranked Citrus Disease Subcommittee priorities and emphasize producer implementation. Define measurable stakeholder impacts and outcomes. Demonstrate that stakeholders helped identify the problem and develop project goals and will remain engaged during project development and evaluation. Explain how project information will be translated into actionable recommendations or products and delivered to end-users. Show that the project team has relevant experience with target stakeholders and the proposed research and extension approach. Keep pre-application objectives suitable for carrying forward to a full application and make the estimated budget commensurate with those objectives.