Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) | USDA NIFA BFR 008056

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA BFR 008056

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) is a federal grant program run by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) that funds education, training, outreach, mentoring, and technical assistance designed specifically to help people who are new to farming and ranching build sustainable operations. While beginning farmer education in the U.S. has roots going back to the 1862 and 1890 Morrill Land-Grant Acts, BFRDP represents a modern, dedicated funding stream created to respond to current workforce and demographic pressures in agriculture, especially the rising average age of farmers, concerns about fewer farmers and ranchers over time, and the growing need for practical programs that help new producers successfully enter and stay in agriculture.

The program was first significantly funded through the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, which provided $75 million across FY 2009 through FY 2012 to support these kinds of capacity-building efforts. That focus continued with the Agriculture Act of 2014, which added $20 million per year for FY 2014 through FY 2018. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill) then reauthorized BFRDP and continued providing mandatory funding to support projects that strengthen the next generation of producers through structured education, mentoring relationships, and hands-on technical help. In practice, BFRDP is meant to move beyond one-off workshops by encouraging coordinated, multi-organization efforts that can deliver real-world skills, networks, and ongoing support to beginning farmers and ranchers.

Eligibility is one of the defining features of this opportunity. Applications cannot be submitted by individuals, and they also cannot be submitted by a single standalone organization acting alone. Instead, proposals must come from a collaborative, state, tribal, local, or regionally based network or partnership made up of qualified public and/or private entities. The solicitation explicitly lists the types of organizations that may participate in these collaborations, including State Cooperative Extension Services; federal, state, municipal, or tribal agencies; community-based organizations (CBOs); nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); two-year and four-year colleges and universities (or university-affiliated foundations); and private for-profit organizations. The program strongly encourages partnerships that include beginning and/or non-beginning farmers and ranchers as active participants in the collaborative group, reflecting the program emphasis on mentorship, peer learning, and practical grounding.

There are also restrictions intended to broaden geographic distribution and avoid concentrating awards among the same recipients. Multiple awards will not be made to the same organization, institution, or Project Director within the same calendar year. In addition, organizations and institutions that received a grant in the prior two funding cycles (FY 2019 or FY 2020) are ineligible to apply under this particular announcement. A special note is included for simplified standard grants, which are one-year awards: recipients of simplified standard grants awarded in FY 2020 may apply again in FY 2021 or FY 2022. Beyond eligibility, the program makes clear 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 application is reviewed.

Even though the applicant must be an eligible partnership, awarded projects are allowed to subcontract with organizations that are not eligible applicants, as long as those subcontractors are necessary to carry out the work. The opportunity also enforces a strict rule against duplicate or multiple submissions: if an applicant submits duplicate or multiple applications, NIFA will disqualify both.

Key administrative details from the notice include the funding opportunity title (Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program), funding opportunity number (USDA NIFA BFR 008056), and CFDA number (10.311). The award instrument is a grant under a mandatory funding category, with an award ceiling listed at $750,000. The agency is the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the posting shows a creation date of December 18, 2020, and the original closing date for the referenced cycle is April 29, 2021. Overall, BFRDP is structured to fund collaborative, place-based partnerships that can deliver meaningful, sustained support to beginning farmers and ranchers rather than isolated activities, with clear eligibility and resubmission limits to promote diversity of awardees and wide regional impact.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP)" 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 2020-12-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-29. (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.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA BFR 008056

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