Veterinary Services Grant Program
Closed Posted
- Opportunity number
- USDA-NIFA-VSGP-011778
- Agency
-
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
- Applications due
- Award size
- $75,000 to $300,000
Opportunity facts
- Assistance listings
- Funding instrument
- Grant
- Category
-
- Agriculture
- Eligible applicants
-
- Other
- Points of contact
- Full announcement
Opportunity details come from Grants.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) is soliciting applications for the Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP), which supports education, extension, training, and rural practice enhancement initiatives to address veterinarian shortages in underserved areas. The program operates through two primary tracks: Education, Extension, and Training (EET) and Rural Practice Enhancement (RPE), with applications due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 16, 2026. Eligible applicants include accredited veterinary schools, veterinary organizations recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association, universities, research foundations, state agricultural experiment stations, government agencies, and for-profit or nonprofit veterinary clinics providing food or large animal services in designated rural shortage areas. Proposals will be evaluated on relevance, technical merit, achievability, applicant expertise in addressing veterinary workforce challenges, problem identification, background, objectives, methods, evaluation plans, and management strategies. Both EET and RPE applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using funding opportunity number USDA-NIFA-VSGP-011778, with EET applications requiring a 12-page narrative and RPE applications requiring a 7-page narrative.
The total funding available for FY2026 is approximately $11.3 million, with EET grants offering maximum awards of $300,000 per project and RPE grants offering maximum awards of $200,000 per project. Both program areas anticipate approximately 22 awards each, with 36-month project durations and no matching fund requirements. EET indirect costs are capped at 30 percent of total federal funds awarded, while RPE prohibits indirect costs entirely. Projects will be implemented across the United States and U.S. Insular Areas, with performance primarily occurring at the applicant organizations' locations, including veterinary schools, universities, rural veterinary clinics, and government agencies in designated shortage areas.
Synopsis
Veterinarians play significant roles in assuring food and fiber animal health, food safety and security, public health, and producer profitability, especially in rural areas of the United States where most livestock production occurs. The VSGP, Assistance Listing 10.336, and its companion Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), authorized by the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA), were established to address concerns that long-term uneven distributions in the veterinary workforce have left some rural communities with insufficient access to food/large animal veterinary services. The objectives of the VSGP are to develop, implement, and sustain food animal veterinary services and relieve veterinarian shortage situations in the United States, which includes Insular Areas (see Appendix III of this NOFO for a definition of "Insular Area"), and to provide education, extension, and training programs for the food animal veterinary workforce.
Files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| FY26-VSGP-NOFO-MOD1.pdf | ||
| FY26-VSGP-NOFO-P.pdf |
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