USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is accepting FY2026 applications for the Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program, USDA-NIFA-HEP-011737, Assistance Listing 10.210. The program supports institutional fellowship training for new graduate students pursuing master’s, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and doctoral study in food and agricultural sciences and related disciplines.
Deadline: October 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
Funding: Approximately $14 million is available for FY2026. NIFA anticipates approximately 28 awards. Standard Grant requests may range from $78,000 to $705,000, with a 60-month grant duration. No cost sharing or matching is required.
Fellowship support: The FY2026 NOFO provides $78,000 per master’s Fellow for two years and $141,000 per DVM or doctoral Fellow for three years through specified stipend and institutional allowance amounts. Fellows must be new eligible graduate students and must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include land-grant institutions; colleges and universities with significant minority enrollments and demonstrable capacity to teach food and agricultural sciences; other colleges and universities with demonstrable capacity to teach food and agricultural sciences; and research foundations maintained by eligible colleges or universities.
Application: Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using funding opportunity number USDA-NIFA-HEP-011737. The FY2026 package includes the SF-424 Research and Related forms and supporting materials. The Project Summary/Abstract is limited to two pages, and the Project Narrative is limited to 20 pages. A two-page Mentoring Plan and a two-page Data Management Plan are required. Other required materials include applicable institutional profile and collaborative-arrangement documentation, senior/key person information, budget materials, supplemental information, and conflict-of-interest disclosures. Attachments must be submitted in PDF format.
Funding restrictions: Indirect costs are not permitted. Funding requests are restricted to student stipends and institutional allowances as specified in the NOFO.
Applicants should use the current FY2026 NNF NOFO, the current NIFA Grants Application Guide, and the Grants.gov application package as the controlling sources for all forms, page limits, certifications, and submission requirements.