Funding

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.

The Endowment fund is an interest-bearing account. Congress appropriates funding for this account annually. Each 1994 Land-Grant University receives an annual funding allotment based in part on the previous year's interest earned and the number of American Indian students attending the institution. Recipients can update NIFA about the work that was done with Endowment funding using the pdf form below. They can also use the form SF-425 on this page to report on financial data relating to this funding. The 1994 Land-Grant presidents can use these funds at their discretion. They may restore or upgrade infrastructure, supplement other NIFA grants, or keep the funding indefinitely as a resource to address future or unanticipated needs.

Deadline Passed 4/4/2018. Deadline for 2019 Unknown. The Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants (SPECA) program seeks to: (a) promote and strengthen secondary education and two-year postsecondary education in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human (FANH) sciences in order to help ensure the existence of a workforce in the United States that's qualified to serve the FANH sciences system; and (b) promote complementary and synergistic linkages among secondary, two-year postsecondary, and higher education programs in the FANH sciences in order to advance excellence in education and encourage more young Americans to pursue and complete a baccalaureate or higher degree in the FANH sciences.

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 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 Passed 11/01/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. This program was designed to assist 1994 Land-Grant Institutions (Tribal Colleges) in building institutional research capacity through applied projects that address student educational needs and meet community, reservation or regional challenges. 

Deadline Passed 04/30/2020. Deadline Unknown for 2021. The purpose of the TCEP is to enable 1994 institutions to deliver science-based, culturally relevant extension education programs designed to address public needs and improve quality of life. The TCEP is intended to be a component of the applicant 1994 institution's land-grant roadmap or strategic planning process. To the extent practicable, priorities should reflect NIFA's national critical needs areas: 1) Development of sustainable energy; 2) Increased global food security; 3) Adaptation of agriculture and natural resources to global climate change; 4) Reduction of childhood and adolescent obesity; and 5) Improved food safety.

Deadline Passed 01/23/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. This grant program supports: (1) training students for master's and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences; and (2) Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries. Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities and national science education policies and statistics. Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas: 1) animal and plant production; 2) forest resources; 3) agricultural educators and communicators; 4) agricultural management and economics; 5) food science and human nutrition; 6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity; and 7) training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.

2020 Application Deadline passed on June 29, 2020. The purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) to agricultural producers, into NRCS technical manuals and guides, or to the private sector. CIG generally funds pilot projects, field demonstrations, and on-farm conservation research. On-farm conservation research is defined as an investigation conducted to answer a speciifc applied conservation question using a statistically valid design while employing farm-scale equipment on farms, ranches or private forest lands. 

The Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) helps landowners restore, enhance and protect forestland resources on private lands through easements and financial assistance. HRFP aids the recovery of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, improves plant and animal biodiversity and enhances carbon sequestration.

HFRP applicants must provide proof of ownership, or an operator (tenant) must provide written concurrence from the landowner of tenancy for the period of the HFRP restoration agreement in order to be eligible. Land enrolled in HFRP easements must be privately owned or owned by Indian tribes and restore, enhance or measurably increase the recovery of threatened or endangered species, improve biological diversity or increase carbon storage.

Land enrolled in HFRP easements - must be privately owned or owned by Indian tribes and restore, enhance or measureably increase the recovery of threatened or endangered species, improve biological diversity or increase carbon storage.

Past Deadline: 05/03/2021. CIG is a voluntary program intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies for agriculture production. CIG promotes sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, and facilities among communities, governments, and other institutions to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users. Non-federal governmental or non-governmental organizations, Tribes or individuals are eligible. Applications are due via Grants.gov. NRCS OR CIG Applications are due 7 May. NRCS ID CIG Applications due 3 May by 11:59 pm ET.

Deadline passed as of April 17, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. This funding supports syntheses, tools, or best management practices to forest and rangeland managers including the National Forest System. Funding will support work fulfilling the needs of forest landowners, forest managers, ranchers, and farmers (agroforestry only) to adapt and/or mitigate for climate change within the United States.