Department Of Agriculture Nebraska

The Department of Agriculture Nebraska, a state government agency and division of the State of Nebraska, acts exclusively as a federal grant recipient in cooperative agreements and definitive contracts with USDA and FDA, delivering agricultural inspection, disease surveillance, pest control, food safety, and commodity market support services statewide and across Nebraska's production infrastructure.

The Department of Agriculture Nebraska is structured as a child entity of the State of Nebraska and operates under state law to fulfill federal regulatory oversight mandates. It receives no federal contract awards and holds no seat on government-wide contract vehicles. All 299 of its recent federal awards are prime grants—cooperative agreements and definitive contracts—with no subcontract footprint. The recipient acts as the primary implementing agent for federal agencies, performing work in Lincoln, Nebraska (administrative oversight) and across all Nebraska counties (field operations).

Federal customer concentration is dominated by two USDA agencies. The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) funds 203 awards (68% of the award count) covering livestock disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, animal traceability, swine health monitoring, poultry biosecurity, and statewide pest and nematode detection surveys. The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service funds 31 awards supporting specialty crop competitiveness through block grants and market news services, including a $824,462 block grant (CFDA 10.170) and a $712,794 block grant (CFDA 10.170) for research, marketing, and producer outreach. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) funds 41 combined awards ($4 million combined potential value) for human and animal food inspections, feed laboratory testing, and food safety regulatory program maintenance, including a $250,610 definitive contract for human food inspections through August 2031 and a $692,245 contract for animal food state inspection through February 2032. The Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 funds 5 awards, including a $1.62 million formula grant (CFDA 66.605) for statewide pesticide regulation and environmental protection through 2029. Together, these five agencies account for 93% of awards.

Representative grant work spans multiple federal programs. Under APHIS (CFDA 10.025), the Department of Agriculture Nebraska receives cooperative agreements for khapra beetle trapping surveys targeting 40 sites rotational basis to protect grain producers and international trading partners; pale potato cyst nematode and golden nematode surveys across six Nebraska counties covering up to 2,500 soil samples; spongy moth detection deployments of approximately 300 traps statewide; and field pest surveys for emerald ash borer, Asian longhorn beetle, and spotted lanternfly across multiple county sites. A $318,814 APHIS cooperative agreement funds avian influenza surveillance (sampling 3,500 birds across county fairs, livestock shows, and poultry operations), poultry dealer and hatchery inspections, cattle health monitoring for tuberculosis and brucellosis, and accredited veterinarian training. Another $300,415 award supports ongoing livestock disease monitoring and foreign animal disease preparedness and response planning. A $705,000 cooperative agreement with FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs maintains animal feed regulatory program standards and mutual reliance initiatives through Phase 2 audit programs and non-contract comprehensive inspections. A $529,080 FDA cooperative agreement (CFDA 93.103) funds 100 chemical analyses on animal food products through the Nebraska Department of Agriculture Feed, Fertilizer, and Agricultural Lime Laboratory. Under the EPA's Performance Partnership Grants program, the Department of Agriculture Nebraska receives $1.62 million to operate statewide pesticide regulation, compliance inspections, applicator certification and training, and agricultural worker outreach activities through 2029.

Activity has remained flat—averaging 14 awards annually from 2022 through 2025, with 9 awards in 2026 year-to-date. Combined potential value across all 300 awards totals $4.4 million, though combined obligated dollars reach $71.8 million (indicating substantial prior-year funding and multi-year cooperative agreements spanning multiple fiscal periods). Thirteen awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $88 thousand and representing routine recompete cycles for annual surveillance and monitoring grants. The Department of Agriculture Nebraska operates no sub-recipient network and maintains no corporate subsidiaries; it is a direct arm of the State of Nebraska.