USDA launches $125 million annual program to modernize agricultural research facilities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a new $125 million annual investment in agricultural research infrastructure, opening the fiscal year 2026 funding opportunity under the Research Facilities Act program. The initiative, backed by President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, is designed to address decades of deferred maintenance and modernize research facilities at land-grant universities across the United States.

Speaking at a roundtable in Washington, D.C., USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said aging research infrastructure has increasingly threatened the ability of universities to conduct world-class agricultural research. The new funding is intended to support innovation that benefits U.S. farmers and ranchers while strengthening the nation’s food security. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said land-grant universities have played a central role in advancing agricultural science and technology for more than a century, adding that the investment would help maintain U.S. competitiveness in the sector.

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will administer the competitive grant program, which will support the renovation, expansion, and construction of research facilities. Applicants must provide a dollar-for-dollar non-federal cash match and may receive funding for only one project at a time. Grants will be available across four categories, ranging from planning grants of $100,000 to $200,000 to large-scale research complexes receiving between $10 million and $30 million.

According to USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist Dr. Scott Hutchins, the program is intended to ensure future agricultural research is conducted in modern facilities equipped with advanced technologies. NIFA Director Dr. Jaye Hamby said the investment would help accelerate the transfer of research from laboratories to farms and markets while supporting the next generation of agricultural scientists and producers.

Applications for the FY2026 funding opportunity are due by July 17, 2026.

Source: National Institute of Food and Agriculture