NIFA-BARD-IIA Food and Nutrition Program

BARD Food Security Technology Accelerator

Funds U.S.-Israel teams developing food-security technologies through a binational accelerator pairing conditional grants of up to $1 million with required industry co-funding.

Eligibility · United States and Israel (binational consortium)

The BARD Food Security Technology Accelerator is administered by the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) to bridge the long gap between laboratory breakthroughs and deployed food-security technologies. It provides conditional grants of up to $1 million for projects with a total budget of up to $1.6 million, over two years of work. Industry partners are required to contribute a minimum of 10-30% of the grant amount, with the exact share depending on the technology readiness level (TRL) of the project. Eligible teams pair U.S. and Israeli participants and must include an industry partner alongside research performers, so a for-profit company takes a direct role in the project and its co-funding. Applications run as a two-step process beginning with a pre-proposal; the most recent pre-proposal deadline was May 1, 2026, and the accelerator runs as a periodic call rather than a rolling one. Applicants should confirm the current cycle and exact submission windows on the BARD opportunities page before preparing a full proposal.