Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA HEP 008883
The Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) is a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) discretionary grant program designed to strengthen the pipeline of highly trained professionals in USDA mission areas. Rather than funding individual students directly, the program funds eligible colleges and universities to run structured traineeship programs that recruit, train, and financially support outstanding graduate students pursuing masters and doctoral degrees in food, agriculture, and natural resource sciences. In addition to standard graduate fellowship support, the program also includes Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF fellows, allowing institutions to enhance training through international study or overseas research tied to a thesis or dissertation.
A central purpose of the opportunity is to address national workforce gaps by focusing training investments on specific Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas (TESAs). Applicants must be institutions that confer graduate degrees in at least one of these areas: (1) animal and plant production, (2) forest resources, (3) agricultural educators and communicators, (4) agricultural management and economics, (5) food science and human nutrition, (6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity, and (7) integrative biosciences training for sustainable food and agricultural systems. Proposals are expected to clearly explain the institution's graduate training philosophy and how the proposed program aligns with USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities, and relevant national science education policies and workforce/statistical needs.
Eligibility to apply is limited to certain types of institutions with demonstrated capacity to teach food and agricultural sciences. Eligible applicants include land-grant institutions; colleges and universities with significant minority enrollments that can demonstrably deliver food and agricultural science instruction; and other colleges and universities that can demonstrate the same instructional capacity. Research foundations maintained by an eligible college or university may also submit proposals under this request for applications (RFA). While the award is made to an eligible institution, the institution may subcontract with organizations that are not themselves eligible applicants if those partners are necessary to carry out the project. A key restriction is that individuals cannot apply for these funds to support their own graduate education; the institution applies and then selects fellows under the funded traineeship.
The program places firm requirements on how fellowships are implemented after an award is made. Funded institutions must select, identify, and appoint fellows within eighteen (18) months of the grant start date. If an institution does not meet this deadline, it can be required to return any funds associated with fellowships that were not awarded. The program does not support postdoctoral fellowships under this announcement. Fellowship appointments must be made only to registered students enrolled full-time in eligible graduate programs within the approved TESA and at the degree level supported by the grant, and institutions are not permitted to request or award partial fellowships.
The allowable duration of support is defined by degree level and depends on the fellow maintaining satisfactory academic progress. A masters-level fellow can receive up to twenty-four (24) months of support within a total thirty (30) month period, while a doctoral fellow can receive up to thirty-six (36) months of support within a total forty-two (42) month period. The program emphasizes full-time, uninterrupted study or thesis/dissertation research as the norm, including time spent on USDA-supported international study or research travel. Fellows are generally not treated as employees with annual leave; instead, they follow the institution's normal student holiday schedule, and periods between academic terms are expected to be used as active training/research time under the grant.
At the institution's discretion, fellows may take on supplemental employment if it clearly supports their training or research and may help them qualify for tuition waivers, such as teaching or research assignments. The program also includes a practical accommodation for non-academic interruptions: if a fellow must pause studies for health, personal, or other reasonable non-disciplinary reasons, the institution must allow the fellow to resume funded study within six (6) months, as long as there is still adequate time remaining before the overall funding window closes (30 months total for masters, 42 months total for doctoral).
From the posted opportunity details, the sponsoring agency is USDA NIFA, the funding instrument is a grant, and the CFDA number is 10.210. The funding opportunity number is USDA NIFA HEP 008883. The opportunity listed an award ceiling of $262,500, with an original closing date of 2022-04-26 and a creation date of 2022-02-22.Apply for USDA NIFA HEP 008883
- The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.210.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2022-02-22.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-04-26. (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 $262,500.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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