USDA NIFA SBIR/STTR
U.S. Department of Agriculture — NIFA · Innovation grant (SBIR/STTR)
$650KPhase II awards $600,000–$650,000 (FY2027 NOFO, ~$24.75M total). Phase I awards were $125,000–$181,500 in the last published Phase I NOFO.
USDA's SBIR/STTR funds US small businesses doing agriculture, food, forestry and rural R&D; Phase II is currently open to prior Phase I awardees.
Key terms
- Current open call (Phase II) is limited to prior USDA SBIR/STTR Phase I recipients
- For-profit, >50% owned and controlled by US citizens/permanent residents; USDA does not accept majority-VC-owned applicants
- No cost match required
- FY2027 Phase I solicitation not yet posted at verification
Eligibility
- Where
- United States
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed, series-a
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- Yes
- AI focus required
- No
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
Also required
- Agriculture / food / rural technology focus
How to apply
Register in SAM.gov and the SBA Company Registry; submit via Grants.gov (Assistance Listing 10.212). New companies should watch for the next Phase I NOFO.
- Benefit
- cash
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- —
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Phase II: 2026-11-17; Phase I: next NOFO TBA
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-23 · source