SMARTFARM SBIR/STTR | DE FOA 0002251

SMARTFARM SBIR/STTR (DE-FOA-0002251) FAQs

1) What is the SMARTFARM SBIR/STTR funding opportunity?

SMARTFARM SBIR/STTR (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002251) is a competitive research and development funding announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). It supports R&D aimed at advancing high-potential energy technologies that are still too early for most private investment.

2) Which agency is offering this opportunity?

The opportunity is offered by ARPA-E, an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.

3) Why was ARPA-E created, and how does SMARTFARM fit that mission?

ARPA-E was created by Congress to push forward high-potential energy technologies that are still too early for most private investment. Its broader national goals include strengthening U.S. economic and energy security, cutting energy-related emissions (including greenhouse gases), reducing reliance on imported energy, and improving energy efficiency across the economy. SMARTFARM aligns with these goals by targeting a key barrier to low-carbon (and potentially carbon-negative) biofuels: credible, scalable field-level measurement and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural feedstock production.

4) What problem is SMARTFARM trying to solve?

SMARTFARM focuses on the difficulty and cost of measuring and verifying greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural feedstock production at the individual field level. Current monitoring and verification approaches are described as too expensive and cumbersome to apply at field scale, which limits incentives for farmers and feedstock producers to optimize practices for carbon outcomes.

5) What is the practical focus of SMARTFARM within the biofuels supply chain?

The program targets the agricultural feedstock production stage, where farming practices, inputs, local soil and weather conditions, and management decisions can significantly affect on-farm emissions and soil carbon sequestration.

6) What is the key gap SMARTFARM aims to close?

SMARTFARM is designed to close the data gap created when carbon accounting systems rely on national average emissions factors. Those averages can mask real variability across states, regions, and especially individual fields. The program seeks technologies that provide credible field-level lifecycle emissions estimates tied to feedstock production.

7) What kinds of approaches do current systems use that SMARTFARM is trying to improve upon?

Many existing carbon accounting and incentive systems effectively treat feedstock producers as though they have the same emissions profile by using national average emissions factors, rather than field-specific data.

8) What outcomes does ARPA-E want funded projects to be able to measure?

ARPA-E is looking for the ability to quantify lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with feedstock production at the field level, in reliable and accurate ways with low uncertainty, and at costs that enable use at scale.

9) In what units does the FOA describe the desired emissions output?

The FOA cites outputs such as grams of CO2-equivalent per acre (g CO2e/acre) as an example of the type of field-level lifecycle greenhouse gas metric ARPA-E wants technologies to produce.

10) What does the FOA say about scalability and field size?

The FOA highlights scalability to field sizes greater than 80 acres as an important practical target, indicating the technologies should be workable at real operational scale rather than only on small plots.

11) Why does ARPA-E believe better field-level measurement matters?

ARPA-E frames the core theory of change as: better and cheaper field-scale measurement and analytics can unlock better market signals. If emissions and carbon outcomes can be verified at field level without excessive cost, then incentive structures can extend back to farmers and feedstock producers, rewarding practices that reduce emissions and increase soil carbon rather than only maximizing yield.

12) How does SMARTFARM relate to low-carbon or carbon-negative biofuels?

The program is built on the premise that U.S. agriculture could supply on the order of 5 quadrillion Btu of energy as biofuels, and that improvements across the supply chain could potentially enable these fuels to become carbon negative. Achieving that outcome depends heavily on farm-level practices that affect yields, on-farm emissions, and soil carbon sequestration, and on the ability to measure and verify those outcomes at the field level.

13) What broader impacts does ARPA-E associate with SMARTFARM?

ARPA-E describes potential impacts including new market incentives for efficiency in feedstock production and carbon management, meaningful emissions reductions at a national level, and the possibility of extending similar measurement and verification approaches beyond biofuel feedstocks to other agricultural products.

14) What type of award instrument is used under this FOA?

Awards under this announcement are issued as cooperative agreements.

15) What does it mean that the awards are cooperative agreements?

In this FOA, a cooperative agreement means ARPA-E expects to be actively involved during the project period, rather than providing funding with minimal agency participation.

16) What federal regulations govern these awards, according to the FOA summary provided?

The awards follow federal assistance rules under 2 C.F.R. Part 200 (as amended) and 2 C.F.R. Part 910.

17) What CFDA number is associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity was listed under CFDA 81.135.

18) How is the opportunity categorized?

It is categorized as science and technology research and development.

19) Who is eligible to apply, based on the information provided?

The opportunity is described as having unrestricted eligibility (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional eligibility language in the full announcement.

20) When was the FOA created, and what were the concept paper due dates?

The FOA was created on December 18, 2019. Concept papers were due February 19, 2020.

21) About how many awards were anticipated?

The FOA projected up to about 12 awards.

22) What is the maximum award amount mentioned?

The listed award ceiling is $10,000,000.

23) What does the $10,000,000 award ceiling suggest about the expected project scope?

The award ceiling indicates ARPA-E anticipated funding sizeable, ambitious R&D efforts rather than small, pilot-only projects.

24) What is the core deliverable ARPA-E is looking for from SMARTFARM-funded efforts?

The core deliverable is credible, field-level quantification of feedstock production lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions that is reliable, accurate (low uncertainty), and cost-effective enough to be deployed at scale.

25) What makes field-level estimates important compared to regional or national averages?

Field-level estimates matter because emissions outcomes can vary substantially from field to field due to soil, weather, inputs, and management practices. National averages can hide that variability and weaken incentives for producers who adopt practices that improve carbon outcomes.