USDA NIFA SBIR

About this programme

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture is administered exclusively by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). It funds competitively awarded grants to qualified small businesses carrying out high-quality research and development tied to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture. NIFA also runs the related Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program under the same office, with the two sharing most of the same structure and requirements.

Unlike a loan or an establishment grant, SBIR/STTR money is awarded against a specific R&D proposal in one of ten defined topic areas spanning forestry, plant and animal production, natural resource management, food science and nutrition, rural and community development, aquaculture, biofuels and biobased products, small and mid-size farms, and plant production engineering.

The program runs in phases. Phase I funds feasibility-stage research; Phase II funds continued R&D for firms that already hold a Phase I award. The two programs differ mainly in who has to be on the team: SBIR does not require outside research-institution involvement, while STTR requires the small business to be formally teamed with a nonprofit research institution and centers on transferring that institution's technology into the marketplace.

Applicants must already qualify as a small business concern under SBA size standards before applying — NIFA does not create eligibility, it funds against SBA's existing SBIR/STTR eligibility framework.

How it works

Phase I: feasibility-stage grants limited to $175,000 for most topic areas ($125,000 for topic areas 8.6 Rural and Community Development and 8.12 Small and Mid-size Farms). Project duration is 8 months for SBIR and 12 months for STTR. Phase I is open to any small business concern meeting the eligibility requirements.

Phase II: continuation grants limited to $600,000, with a 24-month project duration. Phase II is only open to firms that already hold a Phase I award from the same topic area — there is no direct-to-Phase-II track.

Both phases carry an optional Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) allowance on top of the research budget: up to $6,500 at Phase I and up to $50,000 at Phase II, covering non-research services such as intellectual property protection, customer discovery and market assessment, business strategy and manufacturing-plan development, product sales assistance, cybersecurity support, and regulatory planning. Awardees who want TABA must name a vendor, submit a TABA plan, and include the cost in their budget — it is not automatic.

STTR requires a formal cooperative agreement with the partner research institution that spells out intellectual property rights, and sets research-institution participation at 30–60% of the work for both phases. SBIR caps outside research-institution involvement at 33% or less in Phase I and under 50% in Phase II, and does not require a formal IP agreement.

Applications are evaluated through NIFA's electronic Peer Review System (PRS).

Who can apply

The applicant must qualify as a small business concern for R&D purposes at the time of award, under the SBA's 500-employee size limit (including affiliates) and the SBA's SBIR/STTR Policy Directive on ownership and control.

For SBIR, the project director's primary employment must be with the small business concern, both at time of award and throughout the project — defined as spending more than half (51%+) of their time employed by the business. For STTR, either the PD or a co-PD must meet that same primary-employment test, but the other may instead be employed by the partner research institution.

The R&D work itself must be performed in the United States. Any consultant work is also expected to be performed in the US; exceptions require written USDA approval in advance.

Off-the-shelf technologies used in a novel way are only permitted in topic areas 8.6 (Rural and Community Development) and 8.12 (Small and Mid-size Farms) — they are prohibited in all other topic areas (8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.7, 8.8, 8.13).

Phase II applications are restricted to businesses that already hold a Phase I award in the relevant topic area.

How to apply

1. Confirm eligibility using the SBA SBIR/STTR eligibility tutorial and Part III of the applicable NOFO/RFA.
2. Register the business as a Small Business Concern (SBC) and obtain an SBC Control number via SBIR.gov before submitting.
3. Complete Grants.gov registration, which includes obtaining a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) through SAM.gov.
4. Watch NIFA's Funding Opportunities list (or subscribe to Grants.gov saved searches under CFDA number 10.212) to catch the Phase I and Phase II Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) when they post.
5. Review the relevant Phase I or Phase II NOFO in full, plus the NIFA Grants Application Guide, for the specific forms, page limits, and evaluation criteria for that funding cycle and topic area.
6. Prepare and submit the application, including SF424 and Research & Related (R&R) forms, through Grants.gov by the NOFO deadline.
7. If applying to Phase II, the application must reference and build on a completed or in-progress Phase I award.

Documents you’ll typically need

• SF424 and Research and Related (R&R) application forms
• Commercialization plan
• Current & Pending Support form (listing any other pending applications where the PD/PI is lead)
• TABA plan and named TABA vendor, if requesting Technical and Business Assistance funds
• Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA), if claiming negotiated indirect costs at award time (a 10% de minimis rate can be claimed instead without a NICRA)
• Formal Cooperative Agreement with the partner research institution outlining IP rights (STTR only)

Frequently asked

Reviewed 2026-08-16. Programmes change — confirm current eligibility, amounts and deadlines on the official page before you apply. CapEasy is a private consultancy and is not affiliated with any government authority.