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Projected future climate-related changes include increased global temperatures, melting sea ice and glaciers, rising sea levels, increased frequency of extreme precipitation events, acidification of the oceans, modifications of growing seasons, changes in storm frequency and intensity, air quality, alterations in species’ ranges and migration patterns, earlier snowmelt, increased drought, and al ...

A weather-ready nation is a society that is able to prepare for and respond to environmental events that affect safety, health, the environment, economy, and homeland security. Urbanization and a growing population increasingly put people and businesses at greater risk to the impacts of weather, water, and climate-related hazards. Our Nation’s capacity to provide relevant information about chang ...

Ocean ecosystems provide many benefits to humans, including food, recreational opportunities, and support for economies. However, the resources that our marine, coastal, and Great Lakes environments present to us are already stressed by human uses. Habitat changes have depleted fish and shellfish stocks, increased the number of species that are at-risk, and reduced biodiversity. Because humans are ...

The complex interdependence of ecosystems and economies will grow with increasing uses of land, marine, and coastal resources, resulting in particularly heavy economic and environmental pressures on the Nation’s coastal communities. Continued growth in coastal populations, economic expansion, and global trade will further increase the need for safe and efficient maritime transportation. Similarl ...

The Forests and Related Resources topic area aims to address the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests to meet the needs of present and future generations through the development of environmentally sound approaches to increase productivity of forest lands, improve sustainability and develop value-added materials derived from forest resources.

The objective of this topic area is to examine novel ways of enhancing crop production and protection by: applying biological approaches to develop new methods for plant improvement, applying traditional plant breeding methods and new technologies to develop new food and non- food crop plants, developing plant characteristics that reduce the harmful impact of plant pests and biotic stresses, and d ...

The Animal Production and Protection topic area aims to develop innovative, marketable technologies that will provide significant benefit to the production and protection of agricultural animals.

The Conservation of Natural Resources topic area aims to develop innovative technologies that are developed with the purpose to conserve, monitor, improve and/or protect the quality and/or quantity of natural resources while sustaining optimal farm and forest productivity and profitability. We encourage new technologies and innovations that will help improve soil health, reduce soil erosion, impro ...

The Food Science and Nutrition topic area aims to fund projects that support research focusing on developing new and improved processes, technologies, or services that address emerging food safety, food processing, and nutrition issues.

The Rural Development topic area aims to fund the development of new technologies, or for the utilization of existing technologies, that address important economic and social development issues or challenges in rural America. The applications need not be centered on agriculture but may be focused on any area that has the potential to provide significant benefit to rural Americans.