Grants for State governments - Food and Nutrition

This program provides funding to Texas agencies, universities, and organizations to improve the competitiveness of the state's specialty crop industry through innovative projects that benefit the broader community.

This funding opportunity supports projects that improve habitats and migration routes for big game species in the western U.S., targeting conservation organizations, state and tribal agencies, and community groups involved in wildlife management.

This program provides financial support to Vermont's agricultural fairs and field days, helping them with infrastructure projects and operational costs to promote local agriculture and community engagement.

This funding opportunity supports South Carolina artists in launching or enhancing arts-based business initiatives that promote career satisfaction and sustainability.

This funding opportunity supports early stage researchers in pursuing innovative and high-risk scientific projects that significantly diverge from their previous work, without the need for preliminary data.

This funding opportunity supports projects that improve the competitiveness of California's specialty crops, benefiting a wide range of organizations, including nonprofits, government entities, and educational institutions.

This funding opportunity supports innovative pilot research projects that explore the biological, behavioral, and social factors influencing HIV-related health issues, particularly those affecting kidney and digestive diseases.

The Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program, supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and major funders like the Richard King Mellon Foundation, USDA's Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Altria Group, and Cleveland-Cliffs, aims to restore and sustain healthy forests, rivers, and streams. This initiative aligns with a broader mission to enhance natural habitats and support diverse native bird and aquatic species populations. Approximately $3.5 million is available this year, with individual grants ranging from $75,000 to $500,000, distributed over a four-year project period. The program's overall goal is to improve the quality and connectivity of forest and freshwater habitats to increase the distribution and abundance of birds, fish, and other wildlife. This will be evidenced by a suite of indicator species reflecting the health of these habitats. Target beneficiaries include a variety of bird species such as golden-winged warbler, wood thrush, and cerulean warbler, as well as aquatic species like brook trout, eastern hellbender, and freshwater mussels. The program seeks to engage public and private landowners in active stewardship through technical and financial assistance, demonstrations, education, outreach, and other innovative approaches. Key priorities include improving the voluntary management of public and private forestlands to create mixed-age forest blocks that support bird and wildlife diversity. Another critical focus is improving stream health by voluntarily removing passage barriers, restoring riparian buffers, and enhancing water quality and hydrology. These interventions are designed to bolster populations of the targeted aquatic species, contributing to healthier ecosystems across the Central Appalachia region. The expected outcomes are a measurable increase in the distribution and abundance of indicator bird and aquatic species, demonstrating improved forest and freshwater habitat conditions. The program's theory of change posits that by actively engaging landowners and implementing science-based conservation strategies, it can effectively restore critical habitats. This, in turn, will lead to a more resilient and biodiverse Central Appalachia, benefiting both wildlife and local communities. The geographic focus includes portions of Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia, ensuring a concentrated effort within this vital ecological corridor.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is seeking proposals for its Southeast Aquatics Fund to voluntarily conserve aquatic habitats in the southeastern United States and Texas. This grant program directly aligns with NFWF's mission to sustain, restore, and enhance the nation's fish, wildlife, and plants. The fund's priorities are informed by the Longleaf Forests and Rivers Business Plan, adopted in 2018 and updated in 2023, which aims to conserve the extraordinary biodiversity across the Southeast. The primary target beneficiaries of this program are aquatic ecosystems and the diverse array of species that inhabit them, particularly those identified as focal species in the Conasauga River (GA) and Middle Coosa (AL) watersheds. These include various endemic and native fishes like the Alabama shiner, banded sculpin, blue shiner, and trispot darter. The impact goal is to advance specific goals and objectives of the Longleaf Forests and Rivers Business Plan and other relevant conservation plans, ultimately leading to healthier aquatic habitats. The program prioritizes work in northern Alabama and Georgia due to measurement and monitoring constraints, with funding available for a wide range of activities in the Conasauga River (GA) and Locust Fork and Middle Coosa (AL) watersheds. Projects benefiting the focal species in these areas will receive priority. The strategic priorities of the NFWF, as evidenced by the Longleaf Forests and Rivers Business Plan, emphasize a suite of aquatic species as indicators of healthy aquatic habitats in prioritized watersheds, reflecting a theory of change that by protecting these indicator species, the broader ecosystem health will improve. Expected outcomes include the conservation of aquatic habitat, the advancement of specific goals outlined in the Longleaf Forests and Rivers Business Plan, and positive impacts on focal species populations. While not explicitly detailed as "measurable results" in the provided text, the focus on indicator species suggests that the health and population trends of these species would serve as key metrics for success. Projects are anticipated to have a completion time of 24–36 months, with grant awards ranging from $150,000 to $500,000 from approximately $8.45 million available in 2024.

This funding opportunity supports innovative researchers in the U.S. who are tackling significant challenges in diabetes, metabolic diseases, digestive disorders, and nutrition, with the goal of advancing groundbreaking scientific understanding and treatment.

The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Education Grants program is designed to fund education and outreach activities that benefit the sustainable agriculture community. This grant directly aligns with SSARE's mission to promote efforts in farmer innovations, community resilience, business success, agricultural diversification, and best management practices. The core objective is to support projects that develop sustainable agriculture systems or move existing systems towards sustainability. The primary beneficiaries of these grants are farmers and farming communities, including those involved in indigenous agriculture producing for community food systems. Academic institutions, non-profits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 1890 land-grant university faculty/extension cooperators, 1862 land-grant universities, other colleges and universities, and government agencies are eligible to apply, acting as facilitators for these educational initiatives. The impact goals are centered on fostering a more sustainable, resilient, and economically viable agricultural sector through knowledge dissemination and practical application. Education Grants prioritize projects that clearly articulate what is being taught, to whom, and how the goals will be accomplished. Focus areas include experiential learning (demonstrations, on-farm tours, field days, workshops), integrative approaches (conferences, seminars, course curriculum), and reinforcement methods (fact sheets, bulletins, videos, online technologies). SSARE also encourages proposals on quality of life topics, such as heirs property, farmers’ markets, food hubs, local/regional processing, and urban agriculture systems, emphasizing the social health of farming systems. Expected outcomes include the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices, enhanced farmer innovation, increased community resilience, improved business success for agricultural enterprises, and greater agricultural diversification. Projects should yield results that are realistic, acceptable to farmers, logical, and capable of leading to tangible actions and benefits described in the proposal. The grant projects are strictly focused on education and outreach, with no research component, and are paid by reimbursement of allowable expenses. The foundation's strategic priorities are evident in the grant requirements, which mandate that project outcomes focus on sustainable agriculture systems and clearly demonstrate how education and outreach efforts will be implemented and evaluated. The theory of change underpinning this program is that by providing targeted education and outreach, knowledge and best practices will be transferred to farmers and communities, leading to the development and widespread adoption of sustainable agricultural methods and improved quality of life within farming systems. Project maximums are $50,000, with a duration limited to two years. Applicants from the Southern region, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are eligible. Farmers involved in these projects must have farming/ranching as their primary occupation or part-time farming with at least $1,000 of documented annual income from their operation, with exceptions for indigenous agriculture.

This funding opportunity supports innovative educational projects that engage K-12 students and teachers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, particularly targeting individuals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.

This funding opportunity supports postdoctoral researchers in biomedical and behavioral fields, providing mentorship and resources to help them develop into independent scientists.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for researchers to quickly evaluate new policies or programs aimed at influencing behaviors related to obesity, such as diet and physical activity, to help prevent or reduce obesity rates.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for organizations to implement school feeding programs and improve nutrition and education for children, particularly girls, in developing countries.

This funding opportunity supports high-risk, multi-center observational studies aimed at advancing research on diabetes, digestive diseases, kidney disorders, and other related health conditions, encouraging diverse institutions to collaborate and innovate.

Program Description:The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), authorized under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (Insert legislative citation for the FNA), as amended, is the cornerstone of the Nations nutrition assistance safety net. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) certifies low-income Americans to participate in the program and authorizes and monitors retailers to accept SNAP benefits for eligible food products. Currently, around 40 million low-income Americans receive SNAP benefits, and more than 250,000 retailers are authorized to accept SNAP benefits.Legislative Authority:Section 4208 of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, P.L. 115-334, (Farm Bill) authorizes USDA, on a competitive basis, to enter cooperative agreements with governmental entities or nonprofit organizations to carry out Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives (HFMI) projects. The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, [P. L. 118-42 provides $2,583,428 for HFMI for fiscal year (FY) 2024.FNS announces, through this Request for Applications (RFA), the availability of $2,583,428 in total grant funding to award one cooperative agreement. Eligible entities who can submit applications include government agencies (State, local, territory, or tribal agencies) and non-profit organizations.Key Requirement for FY 2024 Applicants: FNS is limiting proposals to project designs that will either1.) Deliver HFMI incentives as an automatic discount at the point of purchase or2) Through integration with State Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems to automatically deposit earned HFMI incentives onto SNAP households EBT cards (See Project Design on page 12 and in the scoring criteria on page 35 of the RFA).Purpose and Key Objectives:The primary purpose of the HFMI project is to develop and test methods to increase the purchase and consumption of qualifying fluid milk by SNAP households by providing them an incentive at the point of purchase at authorized retailer locations. Qualifying fluid milk includes all varieties of pasteurized cows milk that (1) is without flavoring or sweeteners, (2) is consistent with the most recent dietary recommendations, (3) is packaged in liquid form, and (4) contains vitamins A and D at levels consistent with the Food and Drug Administration, State, and local standards for fluid milk.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for research sites to study Type 1 diabetic nephropathy by recruiting patients, conducting kidney biopsies, and collecting data to identify new treatment targets and improve precision medicine approaches.

This grant provides funding to U.S. institutions to foster collaboration and support early-career researchers in benign urology through training, resource sharing, and professional development opportunities.

This funding opportunity supports a central coordinating center that will enhance collaboration and provide resources for research in nonmalignant hematology, particularly aimed at fostering the development of junior investigators and innovative projects across multiple institutions.