ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS · COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
Assisting Specialty Crop Exports: Low Oxygen Storage and Packaging Systems for U.S. Tree Nuts with Phytosanitary Traceability
- Deadline
- Oct 26, 2026 (2 days left)
- Who can apply
- Others
- Award range
- Up to $2.0 million
- Expected awards
- 1
- Total program funding
- $2.0 million
- Your own money required
- No cost sharing or matching required
- Opportunity number
- USDA-FAS-10621-0750-106-27-0001
- Posted
- Aug 24, 2026
- Assistance listing
- 10.621
More on who can apply
This opportunity is available to U.S. academic institutions, state governments, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) designation, U.S. trade associations, U.S. agricultural cooperatives, international organizations, foreign entities, and any other entity including private sector businesses.All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) before the date of award. Applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible. Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered. More information ab
What it funds
The occurrence of insects as well as pesticide residuals can be significant barriers for U.S. horticultural exports. Each importing country can have unique phytosanitary and maximum residue limit (MRL) requirements, which creates operational and logistical challenges. To maximize return to growers, U.S. shippers need tools that can universally address all such requirements while maintaining product quality. Currently, tree nuts and many other durable specialty crops require fumigations or freezing, which are both expensive and create bottlenecks in marketing.More and more tree nut handlers are using a modified atmosphere (MA) or controlled atmosphere (CA) technology in which low-oxygen conditions (<1% by volume) are maintained during storage and/or in packaging. Low-oxygen conditions are known to control insect pests, leave no chemical residuals, and result in high quality products since the lipid oxidation that causes rancidity is markedly suppressed. While this approach is being used as a condition of sale, there is currently no efficient way for shippers to validate the low-oxygen conditions for customers, let alone importers with phytosanitary requirements for insect control. Technically and economically viable, verifiable, and preferably traceable technologies are critically needed before low-oxygen storage and packaging approaches can be used for export to most countries.Currently, the existing low-oxygen technologies do not incorporate digital mapping or official record-keeping during the packing or storage process, so there is no non-invasive manner to verify the oxygen content over time within the gas-impermeable liners and/or confirm seal integrity. This limits the ability to verify that a low-oxygen environment has been maintained at a specific oxygen level o…
Open the official notice on Grants.gov ↗What to do next
- Open the official notice on Grants.gov and download the full announcement (the NOFO) and any attachments.
- Check you can apply: the eligible applicants above, and any detail in the notice's eligibility section.
- Register your organization in SAM.gov (choose "all awards") and create a Grants.gov account; allow several weeks the first time.
- Apply through Grants.gov exactly as the notice says, before Oct 26, 2026. Late applications are usually not accepted.
New to this? Applying for a federal grant, step by step · Register to apply · How to read the notice · Write the narrative · Build the budget · Agency contact: Angel.Gonzalez@usda.gov
From Grants.gov's official daily extract of Oct 25, 2026. The notice on Grants.gov and its attachments are what count. UX Contract is independent and not a government website.