The National Institute of Food and Agriculture administers federal funding to address food and agricultural issues through several funding mechanisms and works in a variety of areas. If you would like a consultation with a National Program Leader (NPL) to discuss your project’s potential fit to a program, visit our NPLs pages. To explore the NIFA grants process further, please visit our grants process page.
Competitive Grant Programs (AFRI & Non-AFRI)
Competitive grant programs enable NIFA, via a rigorous peer review process, to select the highest quality proposals from a large pool of institutions and organizations. Each competitive program may have different eligibility rules. Visit the Competitive Grants page for information about competitive grant programs, split into Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive programs and non-AFRI competitive programs.
Capacity Grant Programs
Capacity grant programs ensure that the Land-Grant University System and other partners maintain the ability to conduct research and extension activities. These programs are intended for land-grant institutions, schools of forestry, and schools of veterinary medicine. Visit the Capacity Grants page for information about capacity grant programs administered by NIFA.
Non-Competitive Grant Programs
Non-competitive grant programs are directed by Congress to support designated institutions for research, education, or extension on topics of importance to a state or region. Visit the Non-Competitive Grant page for more information.
Loan Repayment
Loan repayment is an area of funding where NIFA has a single program. The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program helps qualified veterinarians offset a significant portion of the debt incurred in pursuit of their veterinary medicine degrees in return for their service in certain high-priority veterinary shortage situations.
Operational Areas
Operational areas are pages about areas that NIFA currently supports or has supported in the past. These pages may discuss topics that do not currently have any related NIFA grant programs open for applications. Visit the Program Operational Areas page for more information.