Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Competitive Grants Program (10.319)

Also known as FBMB

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$8.0 million
• Grant awards16
• Typical award$499,981
• Awarded in FY 2025$1.5 million
• Size rank1,535 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceProject grants (cooperative agreements)

Key findings

• Annual funding was roughly flat, $1.5 million in fiscal 2021 and $1.5 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 1535th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 8 largest recipients received 104% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 8 states and territories.

What the program funds

To establish a competitive research and extension grants program for the purpose of: (1) improving the farm management knowledge and skills of agricultural producers; and (2) maintaining and expanding a national, publicly available farm financial management database to support improved farm management.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Applications may be submitted by qualified public and private entities. Pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 450i(7), this includes: (A) State agricultural experiment stations; (B) colleges and universities; (C) university research foundations; (D) other research institutions and organizations; (E) Federal agencies; (F) national laboratories; (G) private organizations or corporations; (H) individuals; or (I) any group consisting of 2 or more of the entities described in subparagraphs (A) through (H). Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. An applicant’s failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the time of an application deadline may result in the application being excluded from consideration or, even though an application may be reviewed, will preclude NIFA from making an award.

What the money can and cannot pay for

In general: The Secretary may make competitive research and extension grants for the purpose of: (1) improving the farm management knowledge and skills of agricultural producers; and (2) establishing and maintaining a national, publicly available farm financial management database to support improved farm management. Selection criteria: In allocating funds made available to carry out this section, the Secretary may give priority to grants that: (1) demonstrate an ability to work directly with agricultural producers; (2) collaborate with farm management and producer associations; (3) address the farm management needs of a variety of crops and regions of the United States; and (4) use and support the national farm financial management database. Administration: Paragraphs (4), (7), (8), and (11)(B) of subsection (b) of section 450i of this title shall apply with respect to the making of grants under this section. Authorization of appropriations: There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section. Indirect Costs (IDC) not to exceed 30 percent of total Federal funds awarded (TFFA). Section 1462(a) and (c) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (NARETPA) limits IDC for the overall award to 30 percent of TFFA under a research, education, or extension grant.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate, for application deadlines.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

If minimum or maximum amounts of funding per competitive and/or capacity project grant, or cooperative agreement are established, these amounts will be announced in the annual Competitive Request for Application (RFA). The most current RFA is available via: https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/farm-business-management-and-benchmarking-fbmb-competitive-grants-program

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: The objectives of example funded projects include: to increase the amount of agricultural data, primarily for specialty crops and direct-to-consumer beef, in the national farm benchmarking database; expand financial risk management decision-making trainings, workshops, and technical assistance directly to agricultural producers; build capacity in both the number of farms and the quantity of enterprises while sharing tools and time-relevant reports through technical assistance that enrich producers' understanding of benchmarking on topics like profit margins and high-risk borrowing/lending decisions; and expand the database by developing technology and exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help producers efficiently search the database.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to colleges and universities.

By state

3 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.