USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) advances agricultural sciences by investing in research, education, Extension, and outreach activities across the country.
USDA NIFA partners with the Land-grant University System and collaborates with leading scientists, policymakers, experts, and educators to find innovative solutions to the most pressing problems.
NIFA-supported programs ensure the long-term viability of agriculture while advancing ecological resilience, food and nutrition security, sustainable ag intensification, and the workforce needs of agriculture and related industries.
Our work at NIFA to advance discovery and create solutions is feeding people and fueling progress.
Goals
- Improve and increase the production of goods and services from working lands
- Achieve food security and fight hunger
- Combat childhood obesity by ensuring the availability of nutritious, safe food and providing individuals and families science‐based nutritional guidance
- Ensure the development the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences workforce
We are a small and agile agency, comprised of scientists who guide our grant programs as well as talented support professionals. That’s who we are at USDA NIFA.
NIFA programs propel innovation from research laboratories to farms, classrooms, and communities. Through three main Federal funding mechanisms, NIFA supports programs that address national challenges.
Partnerships are the core of the integrated approach NIFA uses to discover and apply groundbreaking solutions to critical issues related to agriculture, food, the environment, and communities.
Land-grant University Map
NIFA’s key partner is the Land-grant University System, which includes the 1862 public universities; the 1890 historically Black colleges and universities and Tuskegee University; and the 1994 Tribal colleges and universities.
Explore Map
The NIFA Newsroom is your source for all our press releases, announcements, blogs, and impact stories.
NIFA is embarking on a Grants Modernization Initiative (GMI) to transform our grants management systems, processes, and policies. This multi-year plan will result in NIFA adopting a new grants management system, eRA.
NIFA’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights provides leadership in the implementation of Federal nondiscrimination laws, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) equal opportunity policy for NIFA employees and grantees, primarily under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.