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About CRIS

Background

The Current Research Information System (CRIS) provides documentation and reporting for ongoing agricultural, food science, human nutrition, and forestry research, education and extension activities for the United States Department of Agriculture, with a focus on the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant programs. Projects are conducted or sponsored by USDA research agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, land-grant universities, other cooperating state institutions, and participants in NIFA-administered grant programs, including Small Business Innovation Research, and Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The Planning, Accountability, & Reporting Staff office is responsible for maintaining CRIS.

CRIS was authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1966 to document the publicly-funded activities of the USDA/State agricultural and forestry research system. The system has expanded to include a number of education, extension and integrated activities. Most CRIS data is available to the public through a number of web sites.
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Participants

USDA
State Institutions
  • State Agricultural Experiment Stations
  • 1862 Land Grant Institutions
  • 1890 Land Grant Institutions and Tuskegee University
  • 1994 Land Grant Institutions (Tribal Colleges)
  • Cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine
  • State Forestry Schools
Other Participants
  • NIFA Competitive Grant, Small Business Innovation Research, Cooperative Agreement, and other NIFA-funded program recipients
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Subject Coverage

Agricultural and forestry research and education encompasses a broad range of activities including:
  • Management and use of natural resources.
  • Protection of crops and livestock from pests and other hazards.
  • Production management systems for crops, livestock, poultry, and fish.
  • Farm and forest product development and quality improvement.
  • Marketing of crop, animal, and forest products.
  • Foreign trade and market development.
  • Food and human nutrition, health and safety, and consumer protection.
  • Rural, community, and youth development.
  • Family resource management.
  • Fish and wildlife management, outdoor recreation, and environmental quality.
  • Agricultural education and outreach.
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Description of Work
A CRIS work unit documents a defined activity at a single location. The work focuses on a clearly definable problem, a manageable phase of a larger problem, or a few closely related elements of a broad-based program. Each documented activity includes information on:
  • WHAT is being done,
  • WHO is doing it,
  • WHERE it is being conducted,
  • WHEN it is performed,
  • PROGRESS achieved,
  • IMPACT expected, and
  • PUBLICATIONS produced.
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Why Use CRIS?
The mission of CRIS is to document the research and education activities of the USDA/State agricultural research and education system for various reporting purposes, as well as to provide ready access to information which can help users to:
  • keep abreast of the latest developments in agricultural and forestry research and education,
  • plan future activities,
  • avoid costly duplication of publicly-funded work, and
  • establish valuable contacts within the research and education community.
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Access and Services

  • CRIS information is available to the public through the CRIS web site, the Research, Economics, and Education Information System (REEIS) web site, NIFA program web pages, as well as other database providers. This data collection provides descriptive information, on a project level, of research, education, extension and integrated activities supported by federal funds. Progress information is also available.
  • Cooperating state partner institutions have full access to the data submitted by their individual institution through the CRIS Forms Assistance site as well as the Partnership Leadership Management Dashboard maintained by NIFA.
  • A CRIS manual as well as the Manual of Classification for Agricultural and Forestry Research, Education, and Extension is available electronically to assist in the data entry process of CRIS reporting.
  • Annual funding summary reports are published on the CRIS web site to provide a number of data views based on the financial reports received in CRIS.
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For further information, use the contact email electronic@usda.gov in the Planning, Accountability, & Reporting Staff office.
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Last Modified 02/24/2022


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