Pesticide Cooperative Agreements
The Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) administers cooperative agreement programs that align with OPP’s strategic goals and provide the platform for our day-to-day work. The cooperative agreements fund projects that provide education, training, technical assistance, and resources for various partners and stakeholders (e.g., state, tribal and federal agencies, agricultural employers, pesticide handlers and agricultural workers, pesticide applicators, the medical community and the public).
Below are descriptions of open opportunities and currently active cooperative agreements.
Open for Applications:
- Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety (Programa de Capacitación y Formación de Trabajadores Agrícolas sobre la Seguridad en Materia de Pesticidas)
- Pesticides Health Care Initiative (Iniciativa de Atención Médica sobre Pesticidas)
- Pesticide Safety Grants Technical Assistance (Asistencia técnica para subvenciones sobre seguridad de pesticidas)
Awarded Cooperative Agreements:
- Award to Support a National Pesticide Information Center (Awarded February 2024)
- Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (Awarded September 2023)
- Projects to Advance the Safe Use of Pesticides (Awarded June 2021)
- National Farmworker Training Program (Awarded November 2020)
- Technical Support for the Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) (Awarded October 2020)
- Pesticide Regulatory Education Program (PREP) (Awarded December 2019)
- The National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) (Awarded February 2019)
- Engaging All Stakeholders (Awarded August 2018)
Open for Applications
Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety
EPA is soliciting applications from community-based farmworker nonprofit organizations with experience in training agricultural workers or pesticide handlers or developing educational materials for them to support training, materials development, and outreach to farmworker communities on pesticide safety, as well as to help them understand their rights under the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS)—a regulation that seeks to limit occupational pesticide exposure. The new program builds on decades of efforts by previous grantees while also including new measures to ensure that projects are tailored to farmworkers’ educational needs, taking culture, language, and reading levels into account. EPA anticipates awarding two cooperative agreements to community-based farmworker organizations. A total of up to $6.3 million will be awarded to these five-year agreements beginning in 2025.
Click here for more information on this agreement, eligibility, and how to apply.
Programa de Capacitación y Formación de Trabajadores Agrícolas sobre la Seguridad en Materia de Pesticidas
La EPA recibe solicitudes de parte de organizaciones comunitarias sin fines de lucro de trabajadores agrícolas con experiencia en capacitar a trabajadores agrícolas o manipuladores de pesticidas o en desarrollar materiales educativos para ellos con el fin de apoyar la capacitación, el desarrollo de materiales y trabajo de alcance para comunidades de trabajadores agrícolas en la seguridad de pesticidas, y también para ayudarlos a comprender sus derechos según el Estándar para la protección del trabajador (WPS), una norma que busca limitar la exposición a pesticidas en el trabajo. El nuevo programa se suma a décadas de esfuerzos de beneficiarios anteriores e incluye nuevas medidas para garantizar que los proyectos se amolden a las necesidades educativas de los trabajadores agrícolas y que tengan en cuenta la cultura, el idioma y los niveles de lectura. La EPA prevé otorgar dos acuerdos de colaboración a organizaciones comunitarias de trabajadores agrícolas. Se otorgará un total de hasta $6,3 millones para estos acuerdos de cinco años a partir de 2025.
Pesticides Health Care Initiative
EPA is soliciting applications from nonprofit organizations with experience training health care providers who serve farmworker populations for a five-year cooperative agreement of up to $2.1 million to improve health care providers’ ability to prevent, recognize, treat, manage, and report pesticide-related illness. This will be accomplished, in part, by strengthening healthcare providers' consideration of nonmedical factors influencing the health of patients at high risk of pesticide illness -- the conditions in which they are born, grow, work, live, and age.
Click here for more information on this agreement, eligibility, and how to apply.
Iniciativa de Atención Médica sobre Pesticidas
La EPA recibe solicitudes de parte de organizaciones sin fines de lucro con experiencia en capacitar a proveedores de atención médica que se desempeñen en poblaciones de trabajadores agrícolas para un acuerdo de colaboración de cinco años de hasta $2,1 millones con el fin de mejorar la capacidad de estos proveedores de prevenir, reconocer, tratar, controlar e informar enfermedades relacionadas con pesticidas. Esto se logrará, en parte, fortaleciendo el análisis de los proveedores de atención médica de los factores no médicos que influyen en la salud de los pacientes expuestos a un alto riesgo de enfermedad relacionada con pesticidas: las condiciones etarias y donde nacen, crecen, trabajan y viven.
Pesticide Safety Grants Technical Assistance
EPA is soliciting applications for a cooperative agreement of up to $1.47 million to provide technical assistance with grants administration and compliance for grantees of the Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety and Pesticides Health Care Initiative agreements described above. This Grants Technical Assistance agreement will ensure that grantees have the support and resources necessary to manage EPA cooperative agreements. The grantee will also create resources to help organizations with the application process and preparing applications for pesticide worker safety cooperative agreements in the future. The technical assistance agreement will also be five years to align with the project periods for the agreements it will support.
Click here for more information on this agreement, eligibility, and how to apply.
Asistencia técnica para subvenciones sobre seguridad de pesticidas
La EPA recibe solicitudes para un acuerdo de colaboración de hasta $1,47 millones con el fin de brindar asistencia técnica con administración de subvenciones y cumplimiento para beneficiarios de asignaciones de los acuerdos del Programa de Capacitación y Formación de Trabajadores Agrícolas sobre la Seguridad en Materia de Pesticidas y de la Iniciativa de Atención Médica sobre Pesticidas descritos antes. Este acuerdo de Asistencia técnica para subvenciones garantizará que los beneficiarios cuenten con el soporte y los recursos necesarios para administrar los acuerdos de colaboración de la EPA. El beneficiario también creará recursos con el fin de apoyar a organizaciones de ayuda con el proceso de solicitud y a preparar las solicitudes de acuerdos de colaboración sobre seguridad de los pesticidas para los trabajadores agrícolas en el futuro. El acuerdo de asistencia técnica también será de cinco años para alinearse con los períodos del proyecto que abordarán los acuerdos.
Awarded Cooperative Agreements
Award to Support a National Pesticide Information Center (Awarded February 2024)
EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs awarded a five-year cooperative agreement for up to $10 million to Oregon State University to support the operations of a National Pesticide Information Center. Oregon State University will provide the public with objective, science-based information on pesticide-related subjects via the web, phone, and direct outreach to supports the safe use of pesticides. Read more about the National Pesticide Information Center award.
Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (Awarded September 2023)
EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs awarded a five-year cooperative agreement for up to $15 million to the eXtension Foundation (EXF). EXF will manage the distribution of funds to Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs) at land grant universities. PSEPs will use these funds to provide education and training on the safe use of restricted use pesticides to pesticide applicators in agricultural, commercial, and residential settings. Read more about pesticide applicator training.
Projects to Advance the Safe Use of Pesticides (Awarded June 2021)
EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs awarded a five-year cooperative agreement in the amount of $6 million to the University of California-Davis, in partnership with Oregon State University, for the development of outreach projects that support and promote safe pesticide use. Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC) 2.0 will continue to support the development of resources and materials to promote the safe use of pesticides and help prevent pesticide exposure to applicators and handlers, workers, and their families. More information on PERC.
National Farmworker Training Program (Awarded November 2020)
EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs awarded a five-year cooperative agreement in the amount of $2,500,000 to the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) to support the National Farmworker Training Program. This program will develop national pesticide safety training, education and outreach for farmworkers and their families in rural agricultural areas. AFOP administers a pesticide safety training program to migrant and seasonal farmworkers with a national network of over 150 pesticide safety trainers in approximately 30 states. Farmworkers receive basic safety training on how to protect themselves against poisoning and injury related to pesticide poisoning as required under EPA's Agricultural Worker Protection Standard.
Technical Support for the Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) (Awarded October 2020)
EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs awarded a five-year cooperative agreement in the amount of $975,000 to the Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University. ITEP will administer and provide technical support for the Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) from October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2025. This program will complete a number of objectives, including identifying high-priority, pesticide-related areas of tribal interest, assisting the TPPC with comments on new rulemaking or issue papers addressing EPA policy decisions that may impact Indian country, and developing pesticide-related training for the TPPC.
Pesticide Regulatory Education Program (PREP) (Awarded December 2019)
The University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program is the recipient of a cooperative agreement to implement the Pesticide Regulatory Education Program (PREP). EPA expects the total funding for the five-year period of the cooperative agreement, which begins in fiscal year 2020, to be $2.675 million. This award provides funding for PREP through the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, which will manage the logistics of developing and hosting the courses in different locations around the nation.
Read the April 2019 PREP Funding Opportunity Announcement - EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-001 for more information on the cooperative agreement and PREP.
The National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) (Awarded February 2019)
Oregon State University (OSU) is the recipient of a cooperative agreement to support the National Pesticide Information Center. NPIC is a program that provides the public with objective, science-based information on pesticide-related subjects. OSU provides this information through a website, toll-free telephone service and outreach. The cooperative agreement is funded at $1,000,000 for the first year, with a total amount of up to $5,000,000 over the five years of the cooperative agreement (2019-2024), subject to the availability of funds.
Engaging All Stakeholders (Awarded August 2018)
Michigan State University (MSU) is the recipient of a cooperative agreement to coordinate meetings, workshops and conferences. MSU will coordinate the meetings with partners and stakeholders involved in the implementation of the 2015 revisions to the Worker Protection Standard and the 2017 Certified Applicator regulations. The cooperative agreement is funded at $500,000 for the first year, with a total amount of up to $2,499,999 over the five years, subject to the availability of funds.