Grants to USA government agencies, for-profit organizations, tribal governments, IHEs, and nonprofit organizations for technical assistance to rural agricultural producers. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take several weeks to finalize. The primary objective of the program is to provide grants to Agriculture Innovation Centers that will provide technical assistance to agricultural producers to market value-added agricultural products.
Grant and matching funds may be used to operate an agriculture innovation center, and to provide the following services to agricultural producers:
Business development services, including feasibility studies and business plans.
Market development services, including marketing plans, branding, and customer identification.
Financial advisory services, including assistance with preparing financial statements, and assessing financing options.
Process development services, including engineering services, scale production assessments, and systems development.
Organizational assistance, including legal and technical advisory services.
Value chain coordination, including connecting an agricultural producer to a distribution system, processing facility, or commercial kitchen.
Product development (excluding research and development), including concept testing, feasibility and cost analysis, product taste-testing, demographic and other types of consumer analysis, production analysis, and evaluation of packaging and labeling options.
Grants of $5,000 or less to agricultural producers for the above services (where the aggregate amount does not exceed $50,000)
For profit organizations other than small businesses
Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Private institutions of higher education
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)
Small businesses
State governments
Additional Eligibility Criteria
• Local governments
• State governments
• Federally-recognized Tribes
• Nonprofit organizations
• Commercial organizations
• Institutes of higher education
Pre-Proposal Conference
Training Session - The Agency will offer one training session for potential applicants on January 13, 2023 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The training session will provide an overview of the requirements for the program and address questions posed by potential applicants. It is expected that the session will be offered via webinar and will have a duration of approximately two hours. The session will be recorded and available for viewing within two weeks. Details for how to access the webinar and recording will be posted on the program's website.
Completed applications for grants must be submitted electronically by no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, March 6, 2023, through Grants.gov.
Before you apply:
• If your organization doesn’t already have an active number in the System for Award Management (SAM), you will need to register for one. This free process requires several steps, so plan to start at least a month before the application deadline.
Prior to registering, you are encouraged to read the HELP materials available on the SAM website at this link: https://sam.gov/content/help.
Matching funds are required for at least one-third of the total project budget. For example, if the total project budget is $1,500,000, matching funds must be at least $500,000. Matching funds may be provided in cash by the applicant or a third party or in-kind by a third party. They must be available for use during the period of performance, and they must be used for allowable expenses.
For Further Information, contact:
Gail Thuner, Grants Division, Cooperative Programs, Rural Business-Cooperative Service
United States Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue SW, MS 3201, Room 5803—South
Washington, DC 20250–3250
Honie Turner: (202) 401-0088
Gail Thuner: (202) 690-2426 cpgrants@wdc.usda.gov
