The Horticulture Innovation Lab has announced several new funding opportunities for collaborations between U.S. universities and organizations in developing countries to address the needs of smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers.

Researchers at U.S. public universities, along with their partners in developing countries, are invited to submit proposals for five-year projects that address horticultural research questions. The Horticulture Innovation Lab will fund one project in each of three topic areas:

Horticulture and nutrition: A project with up to $2 million funding should deliver strong evidence about the impact of horticulture on nutrition and health outcomes, while increasing the capacity of research partners and institutions.

Postharvest practices in horticulture: A project with funding up to $1.6 million shall identify impediments to adoption of improved postharvest handling practices, quantify and demonstrate the benefits of improved practices, and create a dataset for modeling the benefits of postharvest interventions with horticultural crops.

Gender, social equity and horticulture: A project with up to $1.5 million in funding will examine women and vulnerable people who work in horticultural value chains, and then suggest steps that could improve their ability to participate in, make decisions about, or benefit from these value chains.

The deadline for full project proposals is Sept. 30. See official requests for proposals.

These three projects will be part of the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s second five-year phase, and are the largest and longest projects the program has funded since its establishment in 2009.