Engagement Opportunity: DARPA BTO Releases Solicitation for Agricultural Defense Innovations
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO) has released a Special Topic Area (STA) solicitation, Ag x BTO, seeking proposals to strengthen agricultural defense across the supply chain against both natural and manmade threats. As stated by DARPA BTO’s Director, Michael Koeris, DARPA is “looking for disruptive solutions that can be rapidly acquired and deployed to protect our nation’s food security.”
Applicants are required to submit a seven-minute video pitch addressing one or more of the following technical focus areas:
1. Early Warning Systems: Improving surveillance tools for detecting chemical and biological threats, with a focus on real-time monitoring, autonomous functionality, and detailed location data.
2. Rapid-Response Agricultural Defenses: Developing short-term solutions to protect crops from new and spreading threats through containment and protection strategies.
3. Next-Gen Crop Engineering: Scaling up advanced crop engineering to provide lasting defenses, including both preventative and long-term resilience approaches.
4. Predictive Threat Modeling: Building integrated models to forecast how threats evolve and the efficiency of agricultural responses.
5. Attribution & Human Intervention Analysis: Creating new tools to detect signs of human influence and trace the source of threats, helping inform decisions during attribution processes.
The solicitation is specifically seeking “new and novel technology solutions” to defend agriculture against threats through its Expedited Research Implementation Series (ERIS). DARPA notes that Agx BTO encourages participation by new or non-traditional submitters that bring innovations to BTO.
Pitch Day: Based on the submissions, DARPA may select teams to participate in a workshop and a follow-on Pitch Day in the Washington, DC area. Pitch Day will likely lead to funding and/or shaping of future DARPA BTO programs.
Limitations: If applicants wish to address multiple technical areas, separate proposals are required for each, with no limit on the number of distinct solutions submitted.
Eligibility: All U.S.-based entities, including large and small businesses, universities, non-profits, and individuals are eligible. Foreign universities, research institutions, and entities may also participate, provided they comply with all applicable international and U.S. export control laws.
Due Date: Proposals are accepted through August 31, 2025. Early proposals are encouraged to allow for feedback from BTO and potential invitations to participate in the DARPA Pitch Day event.
Sources and Additional Information:
• Information about the Ag BTO announcement can be found here: https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/ag-bto
Full details can be found on sam.gov under Opportunity Number “DARPA-PS-25-02-BTO-01”: https://sam.gov/opp/0d848e1ddf3b47e1b27d845bc6fe34be/view
• Details about the specific ERIS guidelines can be found here: https://sam.gov/opp/e5aca381f3244efc8374649d858782df/view
• The ERIS long-term, open call solicitation can be found here: https://sam.gov/opp/ceb71172068a4ac1b74b3e423b1a4cf1/view
• Information about the DARPA BTO office can be found here: https://www.darpa.mil/about/offices/bto
• The contact information for the program manager Michael Koeris can be found here: https://www.darpa.mil/about/people/michael-koeris