Funding

The Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Grant Program supports projects to increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables among low-income consumers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by providing incentives at the point of purchase. There are three categories of projects: (1) FINI Pilot Projects (awards not to exceed a total of $100,000 over one year); (2) Multi-year, community-based FINI Projects (awards not to exceed a total of $500,000 over no more than four years); and (3) Multi-year, FINI Large-Scale Projects (awards of $500,000 or more over no more than four years).

Deadline Passed 01/15/2020. Deadline Unknown for 2021. The U.S. Forest Service requests proposals to substantially expand and accelerate wood energy and wood products markets throughout the United States to support forest management needs on National Forest System and other forest lands. This Request for Proposals focuses on the following priorities to: Reduce hazardous fuels and improve forest health on National Forest System and other forest lands. Reduce costs of forest management on all land types. Promote economic and environmental health of communities.

Deadline is Ongoing. The Tribal College Extension grant program allows the 1994 Land-Grants to create extension offices for their reservation communities. Each extension office works with reservation communities to build programs that target local needs. The result is a diversified and targeted outreach. Reservation youth participate in fun activities in a safe environment. Farmers and ranchers gain science-based insights to improve their productivity. Financial literacy training enhances rural reservation economies. The 1994 Land-Grants also provide culture-centered family activities to restore Native languages, traditions and agriculture. Within this grant program are two types of funds: Capacity grants and Special Emphasis. Capacity grants fund an entire Extension office which can have many mission areas and clients. Special Emphasis are targeted, short-term pilot projects that allow Extension educators to explore new ways to better serve their community.

Deadline is Ongoing. The 1994 Land-Grants use Equity to support faculty who develop classes and degree programs that teach science and math to Native Americans. The programs focus on agriculture, natural resources and human sciences. The faculty strive to graduate students who can achieve their life goals. Since many 1994 Land-Grants are two-year schools, some students aspire to advanced degrees. Other students seek training to begin a vocational career in agriculture. Still other students want to earn certifications just to improve their daily lives. Faculty have used Equity funding to help build laboratories, conduct remedial courses, create new degree programs in forestry and provide students stipends so they can complete their education. The goal is to graduate empowered students who can embrace their future with new skills and knowledge.

Deadline Passed 06/06/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. The purpose of TCEP is to give reservation communities opportunities for enhanced agricultural productivity, community resilience, economic growth and youth development by extending the reach of innovations in research and technology and enhancing informal, local educational programming. The capacity program supports innovations in research and technology, and the enhancement of educational programming. Previous projects have addressed tribal youth development, increased food security, financial literacy, optimization of agriculture production, and natural resource conservation. NIFA reviews all proposals accepted in NIFA’s competitive grant programs through an external peer review process in which a panel of experts from within the respective field in question takes part. Specific details on panel meetings, review formats, and evaluation criteria may vary among programs.

Deadline Passed 10/1/2019. Deadline unknown for 2020. The Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP) offers grants to solely enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding collaborative, multi-state projects that address the following regional or national level specialty crop issues: food safety; plant pests and disease; research; crop-specific projects addressing common issues; and marketing and promotion.

Under Section 10007 of the 2014 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) provides funding for Federal, State, tribal, and nongovernmental efforts to protect U.S. plant health. Specifically, Section 10007 authorizes $62.5 million per year in Commodity Credit Corporation funding from fiscal year (FY) 2014 to FY 2017 and $75 million per year in FY 2018 and beyond. Since 2009, APHIS has funded more than 1,700 Farm Bill projects across the United States.

Grant deadline unknown for 2016. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) provides financial assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and non-industrial private forest land who wish to establish, produce, and deliver biomass feedstocks.

The 2014 Farm Bill authorized the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to provide financial assistance to eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines lost by natural disasters. TAP is administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). To be considered an eligible loss:

• Eligible trees, bushes, or vines must have suffered more than a 15 percent mortality loss in a stand (adjusted for normal mortality) due to an eligible natural disaster;
• Mortality loss on a stand of eligible trees, bushes, or vines is based on:
  • Each eligible disaster event, except for losses due to plant disease; and
  • For plant disease, the time period as determined by the FSA for which the stand is infected.
• The loss must not have been preventable through reasonable and available measures;
• The loss must be visible and obvious to the FSA representative; if the loss is no longer visible, FSA may accept other loss evidence and determine whether that other evidence substantiates that an eligible loss due to natural disaster occurred; and 
• FSA may require information from a qualified expert to determine extent of loss in the case of plant disease or insect infestation

FSA's Indian Tribal Land Acquisition Loan Program is a valuable resource to help Tribes become owners of additional property within the reservation to advance and increase current operations, provide financial prospects for Native American Communities, increase agricultural productivity, and save farmland for future generations. Through FSA’s innovative programming, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments have the ability to create sustainable and community-driven solutions to rural community challenges. This loan program is financed and serviced by the Farm Service Agency. Funding comes from Congressional appropriations as part of the USDA budget.

Unknown if grant is being awarded during FY 2016. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have joined in a collaborative partnership to administer and manage the National Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Competitive Grants Program: Regional Center Grants to Enhance Food Safety. This program is designed to develop and implement a comprehensive food safety training, education and technical assistance program for those affected by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The intention of this program is to begin building an infrastructure that will support a national food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical assistance system and provide significant opportunities for funding through subcontracts and for partnerships with eligible stakeholder groups, including community-based and non-governmental organizations.

Deadline passed as of June 21, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown.This AFRI Challenge Area promotes and enhances the scientific discipline of food safety, with an overall aim of protecting consumers from microbial and chemical contaminants that may occur during all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption. This requires an understanding of the interdependencies of human, animal, and ecosystem health as it pertains to foodborne pathogens. The long-term outcome for this program is to support the development and deployment of science based knowledge to improve the safety and nutritional quality of food without sacrificing flavor, acceptability, and affordability. In order to achieve this outcome, this program will support multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects, and Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants that address the Program Area Priority, Effective Mitigation Strategies for Antimicrobial Resistance (see Food Safety RFA for details).

Deadline: 07/01/2021. Applications to the FY 2019 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system within the next 25 years. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach, and that will significantly improve the supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food, while providing sustainable opportunities for expansion of the bioeconomy through novel animal, crop, and forest products and supporting technologies. These approaches must demonstrate current and future social, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed must result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption. See AFRI SAS RFA for details.

Deadline Passed 06/20/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. The purpose of this competitive undergraduate scholarship grant program is to increase the multicultural diversity of the food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce, and advance the educational achievement of all Americans by providing competitive grants to colleges and universities.