The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking applications for its Farm Business Management and Benchmarking (FBMB) program, which aims to enhance the farm management knowledge and skills of agricultural producers by maintaining and expanding a national, publicly accessible farm financial management database.
Donor Name: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/20/2026
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The program supports improved farm management decision-making through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of high-quality financial and business management data. The FBMB program aims to strongly support innovative extension approaches and collaborative efforts to maintain and expand the publicly available national farm financial management database (FINBIN). Such efforts are needed to meet the challenges facing the Nation’s agriculture and food systems. Farmers, farm managers, and individuals involved in production agriculture must be educated and prepared to work effectively across disciplines to solve agricultural and educational challenges. Meeting these challenges will require projects that are timely, strategic, creative, and multidisciplinary. The FBMB program supports all farmers, ranchers, and producers to develop farm management knowledge and skills that are consistent with the agriculture and food systems priorities of the USDA.
Priorities
FBMB projects improve the farm management knowledge and skills of individuals directly involved in production agriculture by addressing at least one of the objectives listed below and using at least one of the strategies listed below.
- Objectives: Objectives provide clarity on what the project will achieve. FBMB projects must address at least one of these objectives:
- Maintain and expand FINBIN to support improved farm management knowledge and skills for producers of a variety of crops and livestock throughout multiple regions of the United States. Establish or expand outreach-based, collaborative farm management educational programs with farm organizations or associations that will contribute data to FINBIN to improve the farm management knowledge and skills of all agricultural producers.
- Strategies: Strategies represent the plans of action and implementation methods used to reach and engage target audiences and stakeholders or to conduct applied research activities. FBMB projects must address at least one of these strategies:
- Advance data collection and research on financial ratios related to farm production cost, farm profitability management effectiveness, and the effects of farm policy.
- Develop and/or expand cooperation and data sharing among existing farm management associations and business management education programs across the Nation to structure farm financial analyses into a uniform information system.
- Provide training, technical assistance, and software to States with farm management associations to facilitate uniform financial procedures and software.
- Improve the profitability and competitiveness of small and medium-sized farms and ranches by providing access to high quality, uniform farm business management benchmarking information.
- Improve producers’ abilities to successfully manage their agricultural operations through periods of high degrees of uncertainty including supply and demand risk, price volatility, and financial stress.
Types of Project and Grant
The following describes the types of projects and grants that are eligible for funding:
- Project Type. Applicants must propose an Extension Project type. An Extension Project implements programs and activities that deliver science-based knowledge and informal educational programs to people, enabling them to make practical decisions.
- Grant Type. Applicants must propose a Standard Grant type. A Standard Grant supports targeted original scientific Research, Education, Extension, or Integrated Projects. An eligible, individual institution, independent branch campus, or branch institution of a State system may submit a grant application for project activities to be undertaken principally on behalf of its own students or faculty, and to be managed primarily by its own personnel. The applicant executes the project without the requirement of sharing grant funds with other project partners.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,000,000
- Minimum Award Amount: $200,000
- Maximum Award Amount: $450,000
Grant Period
12 to 36 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must meet all the requirements discussed in this NOFO. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s About Grants provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process.
- Eligibility Type:
- The following entity(ies) may apply to this NOFO: Individuals and Organizations.
- Applications may be submitted by entities listed below:
- State agricultural experiment station;
- College and universities;
- University research foundation;
- Other research institutions and organizations;
- Federal agencies;
- National laboratories;
- Private organizations or corporations;
- Individuals; or
- Any group consisting of two (2) or more of the entities described in subparagraphs (A) through (H).
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
