Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program | USDA NIFA BFR 010413

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA BFR 010413

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) is a mandatory-funded USDA grant program run by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) that supports education, training, outreach, mentoring, and technical assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers. The program exists to strengthen the long-term sustainability of the next generation of producers, responding to widely cited pressures in U.S. agriculture such as the rising average age of farmers, expected declines in the number of producers over time, and the growing need for modern, practical support systems that help new entrants successfully start and stay in farming and ranching.

The opportunity builds on a long history of farmer education tied to the land-grant tradition (including the 1862 and 1890 Morrill Land-Grant Acts), but it was significantly expanded through more recent farm legislation. Congress provided major investments beginning with the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, which appropriated $75 million across FY 2009 to FY 2012 to develop and deliver beginning farmer programming. The Agriculture Act of 2014 continued this momentum with an additional $20 million per year for 2014 through 2018. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill) reauthorized BFRDP and continues mandatory funding that supports these education and mentoring efforts nationwide.

Eligibility is a central feature of this grant and is enforced strictly. Applications can only be submitted by a collaborative, state, tribal, local, or regionally based network or partnership made up of qualified public and/or private entities. Examples of eligible partners include State Cooperative Extension Services; federal, state, municipal, or tribal agencies; community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations; two-year and four-year colleges and universities (or university-affiliated foundations); and private for-profit organizations. Individual applicants are not eligible, and neither are single organizations applying without a true network or partnership structure. The program also encourages partnerships to include farmers and ranchers themselves (beginning and/or more experienced producers), reflecting the program focus on practical, on-the-ground learning and mentoring.

Projects must be genuinely additive rather than duplicative. Applications that propose work that duplicates a current beginning farmer project effort will not be accepted for review under this program. In other words, the program is looking to fund distinct activities, services, or approaches that expand capacity or reach new audiences rather than re-funding the same effort under a new application.

There are also restrictions designed to improve geographic distribution and avoid concentrating awards among repeat recipients. Multiple awards will not be made to the same organization, institution, or Project Director within the same calendar year. In addition, current BFRDP Project Directors and Co-Project Directors are ineligible to apply for another BFRDP grant, and organizations or institutions that received a standard or education team grant in the last two funding cycles (FY 2022 or FY 2023) are ineligible to apply. The solicitation also cautions applicants not to apply for another simplified standard grant if they were previously awarded one; simplified standard grants are intended for newer trainers who have not previously received grants and who have no more than three years of experience assisting beginning farmer and rancher development.

Operationally, NIFA emphasizes that failing to meet any eligibility requirement by the application deadline can lead to an application being excluded from consideration or can prevent NIFA from making an award even if the proposal is otherwise strong. At the same time, awardees are allowed to subcontract with organizations that are not themselves eligible to apply, as long as those organizations are necessary to carry out the project. If an applicant submits multiple or duplicate applications, NIFA will accept and review only the most recent submission.

Key funding details from the posted opportunity include the following: the Funding Opportunity Title is "Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program" (Funding Opportunity Number: USDA NIFA BFR 010413), administered by USDA NIFA under CFDA 10.311. The instrument is a grant, the opportunity category is mandatory, and it is classified under the Agriculture funding activity category. The original closing date listed is 2024-04-04. The award ceiling is $750,000, and NIFA anticipates making roughly 60 awards. For organizations that are new to federal funding, NIFA points applicants to its Grants Overview as a practical starting point for understanding federal financial assistance requirements and the overall submission and award process.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.311.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-04. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $750,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 60 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA BFR 010413

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