A coalition of scientific societies, including AIBS, has requested congressional appropriators to provide at least $600 million in fiscal year (FY) 2022 to the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s largest competitive extramural research grant program.
“While this level of funding is still short of the $700 million authorized level, it is much needed to invest in crucial areas aimed at addressing our nation’s most pressing food, agriculture, and public health challenges, now and in the future, including COVID-19 recovery, climate change adaptation and resiliency, racial equity in the food system for farmers and farmworkers, bioenergy, nutrition, agricultural technology, rural economic prosperity, and food safety,” the groups note. “AFRI not only helps our farmers and food producers to mitigate the impacts of these food, agriculture, and public health challenges, but to also be part of the solution in addressing them.”