Sacramento, California – Efficient fertilizer and water use takes more than research on paper. California’s next round of agricultural research grants will also focus on getting useful practices into growers’ hands, and understanding what keeps those practices from taking hold.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is accepting pre-proposals for its 2027 Fertilizer Research and Education Program grant cycle, with submissions due Monday, December 14, 2026. The competitive program supports work aimed at improving nutrient and irrigation management while minimizing environmental impacts.
Announced November 9, the funding opportunity covers research, demonstration, education and training. Its priorities connect scientific questions about how nutrients move through soil with practical questions about how growers adopt new tools and methods.
Outreach, education and demonstration projects are among the priorities for 2027. CDFA is seeking proposals that help increase the adoption of efficient crop nutrient and irrigation management practices and technologies. The department also wants projects that examine the challenges and barriers that can prevent those practices from being used.
That emphasis gives applicants room to address both the performance of a management practice and the obstacles to putting it into use. Evaluating those barriers is an identified funding priority in its own right.
Other priorities focus more directly on soil, crops and water. They include studying the role of organic input materials in soil nutrient management, demonstrating or validating practices that optimize nutrient or irrigation water use, and filling gaps in knowledge about management needs for specific crops.
The program also seeks a better understanding of nutrient movement from the root zone, along with strategies to reduce nutrient losses. Together, these priorities span how nutrients are managed for crop production and how their environmental impacts can be reduced.
Access to information is another consideration. CDFA noted that California’s agricultural communities are diverse and that many have historically lacked the resources and information needed to run their businesses successfully. The department encourages projects with demonstrable benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and farm workers.
Applicants must align their pre-proposals with at least one identified funding priority and use the provided pre-proposal template. The FREP Grant webpage contains the request for proposals, timelines, funding priorities and other application information.
The December deadline marks the first stage of the selection process. All pre-proposals will be reviewed by the Technical Advisory Subcommittee of CDFA’s Fertilizer Inspection Advisory Board. Applicants selected by that subcommittee will then be invited to prepare full proposals.
The new cycle builds on more than three decades of work. Since 1990, FREP has funded more than 280 projects and invested over $32 million in research, outreach and education focused on irrigation and nutrient management practices in California.
Completed and ongoing work can be explored through the FREP Database, which makes research available in a form intended to be understandable and convenient for growers to implement. Questions about the upcoming grant cycle can be sent to [email protected].