Resident Instruction, Agriculture, and Food Science Facilities and Equipment Grants
Active
- Assistance listing
- 10.308
- Agency
-
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
- Grant awards
- 123 $22,230,804 in federal obligations
Program facts
- Also known as
- Grants for Insular Areas - Resident Instruction Grants for Insular Areas
- Assistance type
-
- Project Grant
- Treasury account
-
- 12-1500-0-1-352
- More information
Program details come from SAM.gov Assistance Listings. Updated . Grant award figures come from USAspending.gov.
About this program
The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funds strengthening of food and agricultural science instruction and facilities at higher education institutions in eight insular areas (American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, and US Virgin Islands) under Assistance Listing 10.308, with the most recent award issued September 1, 2026.
NIFA has disbursed grants steadily since 2005, with activity in recent years averaging roughly 10 awards annually. The 123 total awards in the portfolio span two decades; the past five years (2021–2026) show awards fluctuating between 8 and 12 per year, confirming the program remains active. All awards to date have been Project Grants; no Cooperative Agreements or other assistance types appear in the portfolio.
Funded activities break into two complementary tracks. Resident Instruction (RIIA) projects strengthen institutional teaching and learning capacity through curriculum development, faculty preparation and professional development, student recruitment and retention, distance education technology, student experiential learning (research, internships, field work, summer camps), and acquisition of scientific instrumentation and facilities for laboratories and teaching spaces. Agriculture and Food Science Facilities and Equipment (AGFEI) projects, available only to land-grant institutions, support tropical and subtropical agricultural research infrastructure—equipment, lab renovation, and facility upgrades—supporting pest and disease research. Recent awards span pepper flavor genetics breeding research, student enrollment recovery initiatives targeting agricultural career misconceptions, precision livestock farming technology, plant pathology laboratory equipment and nurseries, forest products research facilities, meat and poultry processing workforce training, virtual reality learning in agriculture, and specialized molecular diagnostics and DNA sequencing capacity.
NIFA dominates funding; the portfolio lists the Department of Agriculture NIFA three times with 123 total awards and $22.2 million in federal dollars obligated, indicating near-100% concentration within a single federal agency. No matching or cost-share requirement is indicated; federal and total obligated amounts match exactly.
Typical awards range from roughly $150 thousand to $200 thousand, with outliers including a $475 thousand meat and poultry processing workforce pipeline grant and awards under $100 thousand for specialized projects. The most recent award (September 1, 2026) was a $299,240 project grant for genomic and metabolomic research to improve pepper flavor breeding.
A Notice of Funding Opportunity was posted April 29, 2026, with a June 15, 2026 due date for the current RIIA and AGFEI funding cycle. Eligible applicants are accredited 2-year and 4-year public or non-profit institutions of higher education in the eight insular areas that offer certificate or degree programs in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. Land-grant institutions and those with federal land-grant status are eligible for both RIIA and AGFEI; non-land-grant institutions may apply only to RIIA. Project periods typically run three years with a statutory maximum of five years. Applications undergo merit review by qualified scientists and extension specialists; evaluation criteria are detailed in each year's NOFO. The program publishes NOFOs annually and maintains a regular award cadence tied to the same periods each year.
Objective and description
- Objective
RIIA: Support educational opportunities in the food and agriculture sciences by (1) strengthening institutional educational capacities, including libraries, curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student re
- Description
RIIA: To award grants to promote and strengthen the ability of Institutions of Higher Education in the insular areas to carry out education programs in the food and agricultural sciences. AGFEI: To support tropical and subtropical agricultural research at Land-grant Colleges and Universities in the insular areas.
Eligibility
- Applicant eligibility
The Secretary of Agriculture shall ensure that each eligible institution, prior to receiving grant funds under subsection (a), shall have a significant demonstrable commitment to higher education programs in the food and agricultural sciences and to each specific subject area for which grant funds under this section are to be used.
- Beneficiary eligibility
The Secretary of Agriculture may require that any grant awarded under this section contain provisions that require funds to be targeted to meet the needs identified in section 1402.
- Uses of assistance
The purpose of the Resident Instruction Grants Program for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas (RIIA) is to promote and strengthen the ability of Insular Area Institutions to carry out teaching and education programs within the broadly defined food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines. Food and agricultural sciences include programs in agriculture, food and fiber, renewable energy and natural resources, forestry, aquaculture, veterinary medicine, family and consumer sciences, home economics, nutrition and dietetics, rural human ecology, rural economic and community development, and other higher education activities and fields of study related to the production, processing, marketing, distribution, conservation, utilization, consumption, research, and development of food and agriculturally-related products and services.
- Length and time phasing of assistance
The project period for most of the competitive grants and/or cooperative agreements under this program is for three (3) years. However, the statutory time limit for all projects may not exceed five (5) years. Further details are provided in the Award document Form NIFA-2009 and the NIFA General Terms and Conditions Grants and Cooperative Agreements.
How to apply
- Preapplication coordination
All NOFOs are published on the Agency's website and Grants.gov. Applicants must complete the Grants.gov registration process.
- Criteria for selecting proposals
Within guidelines established for the program as described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
- Award procedure
Applications are subjected to a system of peer and merit review in accordance with section 103 of the Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7613) by a panel of qualified scientists and other appropriate persons who are specialists in the field covered by the proposal. Within the limit of funds available for such purpose, the NIFA Authorized Departmental Officer (ADO) shall make grants to those responsible, eligible applicants whose applications are judged most meritorious under the procedures set forth in the NOFO. Reviewers will be selected based upon training and experience in relevant scientific, extension, or education fields, taking into account the following factors: (a) The level of relevant formal scientific, technical education, or extension experience of the individual, as well as the extent to which an individual is engaged in relevant research, education, or extension activities; (b) the need to include as reviewers experts from various areas of specialization within relevant scientific, education, or extension fields; (c) the need to include as reviewers other experts (e.g., producers, range or forest managers/operators, and consumers) who can assess relevance of the applications to targeted audiences and to program needs; (d) the need to include as reviewers experts from a variety of organizational types (e.g., colleges, universities, industry, state and Federal agencies, private profit and non-profit organizations) and geographic locations; (e) the need to maintain a balanced composition of reviewers with regard to minority and female representation and an equitable age distribution; and (f) the need to include reviewers who can judge the effective usefulness to producers and the general public of each application. Evaluation Criteria will be delineated in the NOFO. Please refer to the NOFO for further specific and pertinent details.
- Time to approval or disapproval
From 30 to 60 days. Contact the National Program Leader (NPL), Headquarters Office regarding dates for specific deadlines, start and end dates, and range of approval/disapproval time. Information is also available via our website and may be obtained via the Grants.gov website. NIFA's respective links regarding general information are provided below: http://nifa.usda.gov/ http://www.grants.gov. Please refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for further specific and pertinent details.
- Renewals
Specific details are provided in the Notice of Funding of Opportunity (NOFO), which are generally published annually.
Grant opportunities
Show all 12
Grant awards
Latest 10 of 123 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Top recipients by federal obligations
| Rank | Recipient | Federal obligations | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University Of Puerto Rico, Estacion Experimental Agricola | $6,691,926 | 30% |
| 2 | University Of Guam | $6,060,560 | 27% |
| 3 | University Of The Virgin Islands | $2,445,070 | 11% |
| 4 | American Samoa Community College | $1,814,546 | 8% |
| 5 | Agricultural Extension Service | $668,886 | 3% |
| 6 | College Of Micronesia-Fsm | $616,895 | 3% |
| 7 | College Of The Marshall Islands | $474,628 | 2% |
| 8 | University Of Puerto Rico | $436,706 | 2% |
| 9 | Palau Community College | $404,231 | 2% |
| 10 | Northern Marianas College | $348,701 | 2% |
10 of 19 recipients listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Federal obligations by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Federal obligations |
|---|---|
| FY2026 | $277,896 |
| FY2025 | -$122,567 |
| FY2024 | $1,825,159 |
| FY2023 | $2,760,860 |
| FY2022 | $1,127,543 |
| FY2021 | $1,227,464 |
| FY2020 | $1,719,893 |
| FY2019 | $1,015,735 |
| FY2018 | $523,528 |
| FY2017 | $1,121,723 |
| FY2016 | $916,652 |
| FY2015 | $139,438 |
| FY2014 | $795,715 |
| FY2013 | $1,328,567 |
| FY2012 | $1,579,024 |
| FY2011 | $1,575,491 |
| FY2010 | $1,543,754 |
| FY2009 | $760,748 |
| FY2008 | $709,604 |
| FY2007 | $466,932 |
| FY2006 | $469,189 |
| FY2005 | $468,454 |
Show all 22
Quick answers
What is Assistance Listing 10.308?
Assistance Listing 10.308 is Resident Instruction, Agriculture, and Food Science Facilities and Equipment Grants, a federal grant program run by National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Department of Agriculture).
What is the CFDA number for Resident Instruction, Agriculture, and Food Science Facilities and Equipment Grants?
Its CFDA number is 10.308: Assistance Listing numbers were called CFDA numbers before 2018.
How much funding has Assistance Listing 10.308 awarded?
123 grant awards under 10.308 have obligated $22,230,804 in federal funds to 19 recipients.
Who receives the most funding from 10.308?
The recipients obligated the most under Resident Instruction, Agriculture, and Food Science Facilities and Equipment Grants are University Of Puerto Rico, Estacion Experimental Agricola ($6,691,926), University Of Guam ($6,060,560) and University Of The Virgin Islands ($2,445,070).
How much did 10.308 obligate in fiscal year 2025?
Grants under 10.308 obligated -$122,567 in federal funds in fiscal year 2025.
Are there open grant opportunities under 10.308?
No opportunity listed under 10.308 is open now. The latest, Resident Instruction Grants for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas Agriculture and Food Science Facilities and Equipment Program for Insular Areas, was posted on April 29, 2026.
On GovTribe
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