Deadline: 31-Jan-23
Grow Further invites agricultural researcher to submit proposals for funding, and in some cases also management assistance.
Grow Further is a nonprofit organization (based in Seattle, Washington USA with a national/global remote team) that makes grants to agricultural innovations relevant to smallholder farmers and other populations at risk of food insecurity. They are a privately funded public charity founded by an economist and funded by a diverse community of individual donors, spread globally.
Thematical Focus
- Socio – economic Goals
- They support grants relevant to smallholder farmers and other populations at risk of food insecurity and improve one or more of the following:
- Nutrition: This includes both improving nutrient levels in crops (e.g., biofortification) and improving the raising of species that are already nutritious (fruits and vegetables, fish, etc.).
- Climate adaptation: This encompasses not only heat tolerance but also almost all types of biotic (pests, diseases, weeds, etc.) and abiotic (heat, drought, salinity, submergence, cold, soil nutrient, etc.) stress tolerance in both crops and livestock. Anything that reduces the risk of farming or helps farmers on marginal lands is likely also climate adaptation. They also count work on adaptation to increased carbon dioxide levels as climate adaptation.
- Farm income: This mainly encompasses facilitating the production of high-value products or improving the quality of existing products, but can in some cases involve lowering the cost of production.
- Species
- They fund research on domesticated species relevant to food and nutrition security, including cereals; legumes; edible roots and tubers; fruits and nuts; vegetables and edible mushrooms; forage crops; animals raised for meat, milk, and/or eggs; and species that support food production (cover crops, bees, draft animals, etc.).
- This does not include timber; biofuels; crops and livestock raised for fiber; crops grown for recreational substances; ornamental plants; herbs and flavorings unless there is a clear connection to food security; etc. Projects that seek to improve the yields of major commodity grains do to some extent improve nutrition and farm income but are not their primary focus.
- Disciplines
- They will consider proposals from a variety of disciplines, including information and communication technology in agriculture as well as more traditional disciplines like agronomy, crop science, plant protection, animal science, veterinary medicine, soil science, and agricultural engineering.
- They are fairly discipline-agnostic, but as a practical matter may prioritize some disciplines over others early in their organizational development for reasons of grant size, risk, or time frame. For example, they may need to show results relatively quickly and thus in the short term need to prioritize something like app development over something like fruit tree breeding.
Funding Information
- They generally make grants in a range of $10-100,000 per year. Grants generally last for 1-5 years. Particular grant announcements may include more specific ranges. Their grants are considered cost-reimbursable.
Eligibility Criteria
- All types of organizations, public, private, and nonprofit, are in principle eligible to apply, though they may apply additional due diligence to for-profit entities.
- They anticipate awarding most grants to institutions based in low, lower-middle, or upper middle-income countries, though this is not a requirement as long as the grant benefits smallholder farmers and other populations at risk of food insecurity in these countries. As a privately funded organization, they have flexibility to work in countries that aid agencies do not consider as a strategic priority.
For more information, visit Grow Further.
