The primary goal of American Rescue Plan Technical Assistance Investment Program is to ensure improved understanding of and equitable participation in the full range of USDA programs and services among underserved farmers, ranchers, forest land owners and operators through supporting the organizational delivery of technical assistance projects and establishment of technical assistance networks. USDA is authorized to support and facilitate the establishment of technical assistance projects toward this goal. Projects must provide a range of technical assistance services to underserved agricultural producers. The term “agricultural producer” is used to refer to agricultural farmers, ranchers, and private forest land owners and operators.
Underserved communities of agricultural producers have not received the amount of specialized technical support that would benefit the launch, growth, resilience and success of their agricultural enterprises. These audiences are more likely to operate smaller, lower-revenue farms, have weaker credit histories and may lack clear title to their agricultural land, which increases difficulty in securing loans to own or operate their businesses and to ensure the success and resiliency of their operations. Advocacy groups have also reported these audiences have lower awareness of credit options and lending requirements, particularly for beginning farmers and recent immigrants. USDA has comparatively few programs directed at supporting specialty crop production, which is a predominant crop production choice for many of these producers and existing livestock programs may not always be designed to focus on the needs of small, diversified farms and ranches. Common barriers experienced by these underserved audiences include challenges with accessing federal agricultural programs including communication about programs, problems with the application process, lack of standardization and transparency, limited knowledge on qualification requirements for all programs, and complicated reporting requirements. Additional common barriers a robust team of cooperators can assist USDA in addressing include enhanced business and financial management training, expanded risk identification and mitigation strategies, greater use of land use tools, improved new market access identification and planning, understanding tax and legal issues facing the farm or ranch operation, as well as climate mitigation and food safety strategies uniquely focused on the needs of underserved producers.
To address these challenges, recommendations for improvement include facilitating close collaborations with community leaders and agricultural organizations, implementing grassroots strategies, developing targeted communication approaches at the local, state, and federal levels, fostering transparency, greater responsiveness to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access, and bolstering evaluation of outreach and technical assistance outcomes.
In this program, USDA will fund Cooperators, who will work collaboratively with USDA and with other cooperators to deliver targeted outreach and technical assistance programs addressed to meet the needs of underserved agricultural producers through a cooperative agreement. No agreement activities will be duplicative of other activities currently undertaken by the organization (Cooperator) that are supported financially by USDA.
Applications from partnerships and collaborations that are led by nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education with specialized expertise and a proven track record in working with underserved agricultural producers and/or the specific content for technical assistance are encouraged.
The American Rescue Plan Technical Assistance Investment Program is aligned with the following USDA Strategic Plan goals:
- Strategic Goal 1: Ensure USDA Programs Are Delivered Efficiently, Effectively, With Integrity and a Focus on Customer Service;
- Strategic Goal 3: Promote American Agricultural Products and Exports; and
- Strategic Goal 4: Facilitate Rural Prosperity and Economic Development
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: Last name_USDA-NIFA-OP-009004_2022) no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Letter (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- PI name, departmental affiliations(s) and contact information
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description (no more than two pages, pdf) identifying the project scope that addresses the key aspects and elements of the sponsor's solicitation, principal investigators, collaborators, and partner organizations. References may be included on an additional page.
3. 2-page CV's of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.