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SCRI Seeks Industry Relevance Reviewers

Help ensure Specialty Crop Research Initiative funding is addressing your sector's most critical needs 

NIFA is recruiting industry representatives to review pre-applications for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). The SCRI program provides up to $80 million of funding to support research and extension projects to address the most critical challenges faced by the US Specialty Crop industry. Learn more about the program and the full review process here.  

Volunteer to be a Relevance Reviewer 

If you are a specialty crop industry member we invite you to apply to review SCRI pre-applications to make sure that they are meeting the top priorities of the specialty crop industry and engaging stakeholders effectively. 

For participating in the Peer Review Process, NIFA pays honorarium of $265/day during the panel discussion (view the “Honorarium and Other Logistics” pdf on this page to make sure you qualify for honorarium).

What is required: 
  • Read and evaluate up to 15 Stakeholder Relevance Statements (SRS) and submit reviews in NIFA’s online Peer Review System. There is no need to travel to participate.  
  • Participate in a review panel conference call of approximately two hours to agree on ranking of proposals with each topic group. 
  • The estimated time commitment is up to 20 hours. 
When: 
  • December - February 
 Who: 
  • Growers 
  • Processors, packers, or shippers of specialty crops 
  • Staff from organizations that represent growers 
  • Other stakeholder experts 
  • Please note: Academic scientists and USDA employees are ineligible from serving as relevance reviewers (Extension agents and state agricultural agencies are ok) 
How to Sign Up: 

If you are interested and/or have any questions about serving as an Industry Relevance Reviewer, contact Jessica Shade

You will also need to set up a PRS profile by going to this website and clicking “Panelist Recruitment. Instructions on how to set up a PRS profile are available as a pdf download in the Resources section below. 

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