NICH Seeks Reviewers for Specialty Crop Research Proposals
The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is looking for volunteers to be reviewers of Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) proposals.
This is your opportunity to help influence how federal research dollars are spent on consumer horticulture.
Anyone who works in any aspect of horticulture is eligible to be a reviewer.
“The National Institute for Consumer Horticulture is asking everyone in the industry to spend just a few hours of their time to review SCRI proposals. Doing so helps grow our industry and connect more people and plants, and you’ll also grow from the experience,” said Casey Sclar, inaugural chair of NICH.
Volunteers will be given proposals covering topics closely related to their expertise to read, evaluate and prepare brief comments on to determine its relevancy. When reviews are complete, the panel will decide which proposals will be invited to submit a full application. The review process involves 20-25 hours of volunteer time. No travel is required; email and conference calls are used.
“We need more people with expertise in consumer horticulture on these panels or proposals relevant to consumer horticulture won’t get through the pre-proposal initial stages,” said Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of Urban Ag Council.
To learn more or to sign up, please visit: nifa.usda.gov/announcement/scri-relevance-review. You can also contact Tom Bewick, National Program Leader at tbewick@nifa.usda.gov.
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