An extension of the closing dates of the 2025 call for proposals in agriculture under the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership has been announced.

The call aims to support Irish and US researchers to collaborate on projects across 12 areas important to agriculture.

These include animal health and welfare, animal breeding, antimicrobial resistance, soil health, the bioeconomy, data science for food and agriculture, among others. 

This is a tripartite partnership between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA in Northern Ireland) and the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA USA).

Minister of State at DAFM with special responsibility for research, Noel Grealish said that the partnership "provides a very important mechanism for the collaboration and sharing of expertise and resources between researchers across the three jurisdictions".

"This international collaboration can enable our researchers to advance our understanding of complex issues and develop solutions in areas such as mitigating antimicrobial resistance across the food chain, biomanufacturing and the bioeconomy, among others," the minister said.

"Last year, my department increased the maximum grant rate to €500,000 for Irish partner institutions involved in successful projects and I would encourage researchers to avail of this unique funding opportunity."

The call invites eligible research performing organisations from the Republic of Ireland to submit joint research proposals, with collaborating partners from the US and Northern Ireland, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) of NIFA.

The submission deadline for DAFM and DAERA is four weeks in advance of the stated AFRI deadline for the respective programme area priorities in AFRI’s Foundation Competitive Grant Programme.

Details of the request for applications (RFA) on the 12 programme area priorities can be found on AFRI's website.