Key Programs for Organizations

Organized by applicant type and topic, this resource details several popular USDA services and programs geared toward organizations applying for benefits

The catalog is not exhaustive and does not include all programs or services USDA offers.

Review important upcoming and ongoing national USDA program deadlines. Please note that this list does not include every deadline, and only includes federal deadlines.

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Funding Opportunities Programs

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Equipment Grants Program (EGP): Provides eligible institutions with an opportunity to acquire one major piece of equipment/instrument that supports their research, training, and extension goals.

Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR): Awards grants to qualified small businesses to support high quality research related to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public benefits.

Rural Development (RD)

Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program: Provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas.

Community Facilities Economic Impact Initiative Grants: Provides funding to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural communities with extreme unemployment and severe economic depression.

Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program: Provides loan guarantees to eligible lenders to develop essential community facilities in rural areas.

Intermediary Relending Program: Provides 1 percent low-interest loans to local lenders or “intermediaries” that re-lend to businesses to improve economic conditions and create jobs in rural communities.

Rural Community Development Initiative Grants: Grants to support housing, community facilities, and community and economic development projects in rural areas.

Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program: Helps individuals and businesses start, expand or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually-owned businesses through Cooperative Development Centers.

Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program: Provides loans and grants to nonprofits, federally recognized tribes, and higher education institutions to (a) provide microloans for microenterprise startups and growth through a Rural Microloan Revolving Fund and (b) provide training and technical assistance to microloan borrowers and micro entrepreneurs.

Conservation and Climate Change Programs

Forest Service (FS)

Intermediary Relending Program: Provides 1 percent low-interest loans to local lenders or “intermediaries” that re-lend to businesses to improve economic conditions and create jobs in rural communities.

National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program: Funds organizations to deliver community forestry services that help implement the Ten-Year Urban Forestry Action Plan (2016-2026).

Tribal Forest Protection Act (TFPA): Authorizes the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to give special consideration to tribally-proposed Stewardship Contracting or other projects on Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land bordering or adjacent to Indian trust land to protect the Indian trust resources from fire, disease, or other threat coming off of that Forest Service or BLM land.

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG): Supports the development and implementation of innovative new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands.

Healthy Forests Reserve Program: Provides landowners with 10-year restoration agreements and 30-year or permanent easements for specific conservation actions that promote the recovery of endangered or threatened species, improve plant and animal biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration.

Intermediary Relending Program: Provides 1 percent low-interest loans to local lenders or “intermediaries” that re-lend to businesses to improve economic conditions and create jobs in rural communities.

Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program (WFPOP): Provides technical and financial assistance to States, local governments and Tribal organizations to help plan and implement authorized watershed projects for the purpose of flood prevention, recreation, water quality, and more.

Rural Development (RD)

Grassroots Source Water Protection Program: Rural source water technicians work with state rural water associations and individuals from federal, state, local, and private organizations to create a Rural Source Water Protection plan that identifies voluntary actions that farmers and ranchers can install to prevent source water pollution.

Food Access and Education Programs

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)

Farm to School Grant Program: Awards grants that support planning, developing, and implementing farm to school programs that connect students to the sources of their food through education, taste tests, school gardens, field trips, and local food sourcing for school meals.

SNAP Process and Technology Improvement Grants (SNAP PTIG): Grants to support state agencies and their partners to develop and implement projects that improve the quality and efficiency of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) operations and processes.

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Community Foods Projects: Funds projects that improve food security, especially for vulnerable populations. Includes 3 types of grants: Training and Technical Assistance, Planning, or Community Food Projects.

Infrastructure and Utilities Programs

Rural Development (RD)

Community Connect Grant Program: Offers financial assistance to eligible applicants that will provide broadband service in rural, economically-challenged communities where service does not exist.

Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants: Funds projects that help rural communities use advanced telecommunications technology to connect to each other - and the world - overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density.

Distributed Generation Energy Project Financing: Provides loans and loan guarantees to energy project developers for distributed energy projects including renewables that provide wholesale or retail electricity to existing Electric Program borrowers or to rural communities served by other utilities.

Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program: Makes loans and loan guarantees to finance the construction of electric distribution, transmission, and generation facilities.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program: Provides loans to finance energy efficiency and conservation projects for commercial, industrial, and residential consumers.

High Energy Cost Grant Program: Helps power providers take actions that lower energy costs for families and individuals in areas with extremely high per-household energy costs (275 percent of the national average or higher).

Housing Preservation Grants: Provides grants to sponsoring organizations for the repair or rehabilitation of housing owned or occupied by low- and very-low-income rural citizens.

Household Water Well System Grant Program: Helps qualified nonprofits and tribes create a revolving loan fund to increase access to clean, reliable water and septic systems for households in eligible rural areas.

High Energy Cost Grant Program: Helps power providers take actions that lower energy costs for families and individuals in areas with extremely high per-household energy costs (275 percent of the national average or higher).

Housing Preservation Grants: Provides grants to sponsoring organizations for the repair or rehabilitation of housing owned or occupied by low- and very-low-income rural citizens.

Individual Water and Wastewater Grant Program: Provides funds to households in an area recognized as a Colonia before October 1, 1989. Grant funds may be used to connect service lines to a residence, pay utility hook-up fees, or install plumbing and related fixtures (e.g., bathroom sink, bathtub or shower, commode, kitchen sink, water heater, outside spigot, or bathroom).

Rural Broadband Loans and Loan Guarantees: Furnishes loans and loan guarantees to provide funds for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide service at the broadband lending speed in eligible rural areas.

Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development Assistance (REDA) Grants: Assists rural small businesses and agricultural producers by conducting and promoting energy audits and providing Renewable Energy Development Assistance (REDA).

Rural Energy Savings Program: Provides loans to rural utilities and other companies who provide energy efficiency loans to qualified consumers to implement durable cost-effective energy efficiency measures.

Special Evaluation Assistance for Rural Communities and Households Program (SEARCH): Helps very small, financially distressed rural communities with predevelopment feasibility studies, design and technical assistance on proposed water and waste disposal projects.

Rural Alaska Village Grant Program: Helps remote Alaskan villages provide safe, reliable drinking water and waste disposal systems for households and businesses.

Solid Waste Management Grant Program: Reduces or eliminates the pollution of water resources by funding eligible organizations that provide technical assistance or training to improve planning for – and management of – solid waste disposal sites.

Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans and Loan Guarantees: This program provides financing for the construction, maintenance, improvement and expansion of telephone service and broadband in rural areas.

Water and Waste Disposal Grant Program to Alleviate Health Risks on Tribal Lands and Colonias: Provides low-income communities, which face significant health risks, access to safe, reliable drinking water and waste disposal facilities and services.

Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program: Provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in eligible rural areas.

Water and Waste Disposal Loan Guarantee Program: Helps private lenders provide affordable financing to qualified borrowers to improve access to clean, reliable water and waste disposal systems for households and businesses in rural areas.

Water and Waste Disposal Predevelopment Planning Grant Program: Helps eligible low-income communities plan and develop applications for proposed USDA Rural Development water or waste disposal projects.

Water and Waste Disposal Revolving Loan Fund Program: Helps qualified nonprofits create revolving loan funds that can provide financing to extend and improve water and waste disposal systems in rural areas.

Water and Waste Disposal Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program: Helps qualified, private nonprofits provide technical assistance and training to identify and evaluate solutions to water and waste problems; helps applicants prepare applications for water and waste disposal loans/grants; and helps associations improve the operation and maintenance of water and waste facilities in eligible rural areas.

Land Access and Education Programs

Farm Service Agency (FSA)

Heirs Property Relending Program – for Lenders: Rather than USDA providing loans directly to producers, loans are provided to intermediary lenders, who then relend the funds to producers.

Highly Fractionated Indian Land Loans: Provides a way for tribes and tribal members to obtain loans to purchase fractionated land interests through intermediary lenders.

Indian Tribal Land Acquisition: Extends credit to Indian Tribes or Tribal corporations that do not qualify for standard commercial loans to purchase land within their own reservation or Alaskan community.

Market Opportunities and Supply Chain Programs

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)

Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP): Funds projects that help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products by developing, coordinating, expanding, and providing outreach, training, and technical assistance to domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, online sales or other direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities.

Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP): Funds projects that develop, coordinate, and expand local and regional food business enterprises and increase access to locally and regionally produced agricultural products.

Sheep Production and Marketing Grant Program (SPMGP): Grants for projects that develop solutions for problems experienced by the entire sheep industry, focusing on measurable benefits for sheep producers and encouraging partnerships among other sheep industry organizations.

Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCGBP): Enhances the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding projects to market and promote specialty crops; assist producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops; expand availability and access to specialty crops; or address local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers.

Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)

Emerging Markets Program (EMP): Helps U.S. organizations promote exports of U.S. agricultural products to countries that have -- or are developing -- market-oriented economies by providing cost-share funding for technical assistance activities.

Facility Guarantee Program: Provides credit guarantees for infrastructure improvements in countries where demand for U.S. agricultural products may be limited by lack of adequate facilities.

Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program: Funds projects that promote U.S. commodities overseas and create, expand, and maintain long-term export markets for U.S. agricultural products.

Market Access Program (MAP): FAS partners with U.S. agricultural trade associations, cooperatives, state regional trade groups and small businesses to share the costs of overseas marketing and promotional activities that help build commercial export markets for U.S. agricultural products and commodities.

Quality Samples Program (QSP): Provides funding to assist U.S. entities in providing commodity samples to potential foreign importers to promote appreciation for the high quality of U.S. agricultural commodities and develop a new market or new use for the product abroad.

Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

Small and Very Small Plant Outreach Guidance: Provides answers to common questions from small and very small plant owners and operators across the country.

Rural Development (RD)

Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program: This program provides funds to individuals and businesses to start, expand or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually owned businesses through Cooperative Development Centers.

Risk and Disaster Management Programs

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program (PPDMDPP): Funds projects that expand or enhance pest survey, identification, inspection, mitigation, risk analysis, and public education and outreach.

Forest Service (FS)

Tribal Forest Protection Act (TFPA): Authorizes the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to give special consideration to tribally-proposed Stewardship Contracting or other projects on Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land bordering or adjacent to Indian trust land to protect the Indian trust resources from fire, disease, or other threat coming off of that Forest Service or BLM land.

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program: Offers technical and financial assistance to help local communities recover from floods, fires, windstorms and other natural disasters that impair a watershed.

Rural Development (RD)

Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants: This program provides grants to help eligible communities prepare, or recover from, an emergency that threatens the availability of safe, reliable drinking water.

Technical Assistance and Training Programs

Forest Service (FS)

Forest Stewardship Program: Connects private landowners with the information and tools they need to manage their forests and woodlands.

Rural Development (RD)

AgrAbility: Funds projects that provide agricultural education and assistance to individuals with disabilities, and their families, who engage in farming and farm-related occupations.

2501 Program: The Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program (2501 Program) funds projects to (a) provide education and training in agriculture, agribusiness, forestry, agriculturally related services, and USDA programs and (b) conduct outreach designed to assist historically underserved farmers in participating in USDA programs.

Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program: Provides loans and grants to nonprofits, federally recognized tribes, and higher education institutions to (a) provide microloans for microenterprise startups and growth through a Rural Microloan Revolving Fund and (b) provide training and technical assistance to microloan borrowers and micro entrepreneurs.

Rural Business Development Grant Program: Provides technical assistance and training for small rural businesses with fewer than 50 new workers and less than $1 million in gross revenue.

 

Page last updated: July 19, 2023