The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Crop Research Grant program.
Donor Name: Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA)
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 12/16/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
Applied research utilizes science to develop practical applications and to solve real-world problems.
Research on crops that have limited access to other research funds.
Projects with an outreach plan describing how activities or outcomes meaningfully involve or inform farmers or rural communities with limited economic opportunities. The Project Evaluation Profile in the request for proposals can help you understand how applications are scored.
Funding Information
- MDA anticipates awarding approximately $1.75 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Note: they don’t plan to issue another Request for Proposals (RFP) in FY 2027.
- The maximum grant award is $250,000 per project.
Grant Period
Projects can last up to three years.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible:
- Represent an organization or research entity with an agricultural research capability.
- Be in good standing with the State of Minnesota:
- Registered with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office.
- No back taxes owed.
- No defaults on Minnesota state-backed financing for the last seven years.
- Acceptable performance on past MDA grants.
- Not debarred or suspended from doing business with the State of Minnesota or the federal government.
- No conviction of felony financial crimes in the past ten years.
- Compliant with current state regulations.
- MDA employees, their spouses, LLCs owned, or businesses principally operated by them are not eligible applicants and not eligible to receive funds from this grant program.
- Examples of eligible applicants:
- Institutions of higher education
- Farmer networks
- Nonprofit organizations
- Research institutions
- Agricultural cooperatives
- Agricultural businesses with research capabilities.
For more information, visit Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
