We are pleased to announce that the CSU Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) Grants 2026/2027 competition will be launching soon! However the application portal is not yet open as we wait for the funder to finalize the application on their end. We’ve been assured that the materials will remain the same as last year, which we are happy to share in the meantime upon request. We’re sharing this notice early to ensure everyone has sufficient time to plan and prepare. We appreciate your patience and will notify you as soon as the application officially opens.

Institutional Routing Deadline: Monday, Dec. 1, 2025

Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Funding Amount: Up to $150,000

Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) funds are available to all tenured, tenure-track faculty, or research associates engaging in agricultural research. ARI projects must have a strong link to agriculture, including forestry and aquaculture. Projects must be focused on applied research with strong industry collaboration and a goal to positively impact California agriculture, natural resources and food systems.

The match requirement is 100% of the requested amount with at least 25% of this from cash and the remainder in-kind.  Note that the cash match simply means that you may leverage an existing grant or contract (excluding grants supported from the CSU general fund) with funds not already committed to match on any other project. If using another grant as match, the funds must come from a project associated with your ARI Proposal. As such, ARI proposals may be used to augment the activities associated with an existing grant (e.g., NSF, USDA, etc).

*Please note - SPF requires that all ARI proposals be Institutionally Routed.  The internal deadline to start your Institutional Routing is no later than December 1, 2025. Routing packages must include a final budget that has already been reviewed by your Pre-Award Specialist, match commitment letters from any external match providers, the narrative, a routing form, and, if applicable, commitment letters and budgets from subawardees. 

For submission, at least one reference letter is also required, however reference letters will be accepted until December 15 to give referees ample time to read your application. 

Please note your application will not be accepted and forwarded for review if it does not include all relevant letters. See more details on each below. Please reach out to your Pre-Award Specialist asap to coordinate both the routing and submission via InfoReady if you are unfamiliar with the platform.

Reference letters: must be written by an expert in the field of study of the respective proposal (e.g. if the proposal is about diseases in oak trees, then the person writing the letter should be a plant physiologist, or a silviculturist, or a disease ecologist, or similar), who can comment on the scientific merit and methodological soundness of the proposed project. The proposed scientific approach and methodology are reviewed and actively evaluated within the letter. Reference letters are usually written by a colleague who understands the field of study well, and might collaborate on other projects. Collaborators on the proposed ARI project are not eligible to write a reference letter. Reference letters will be accepted until November 21st.

Support letters from industry: support letters should be included from anyone whose support is necessary for the success of the project. For example, if your project will take place on private land, you’ll want to include a letter from the landowner indicating support for the project and access to the land. If your project includes unpaid collaborators, you will want to include letters of support indicating the support they are willing to provide to the project. Support letters are due with your application.

APPLY: You’ll be able to find a link to the application in our Engagement Hub when it opens. 

For assistance with completing the application please contact one of our Pre-Award Specialists: Pia Gabriel at pg12@humboldt.edu, Kaz Wegmuller at jkw77@humboldt.edu, or Jocelyne Takatsuno at jt366@humboldt.edu