USDA and the Department of Education on Monday announced $125 million in annual funding to improve agricultural research facilities at land‑grant universities and other colleges of agriculture. Entities receiving the grants must match the federal dollars one‑to‑one.
The grants will be awarded in tiers ranging from $100,000 to $30 million and will cover projects from needs assessments to construction of new research facilities.
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A 2015 study by the Association of Public and Land‑grant Universities and Sightlines found that campus buildings receiving USDA funding faced $8.4 billion in deferred maintenance, resulting in a 29% loss in asset value.
“A nation that cannot feed itself is not secure, and for too long, many of our land‑grant universities have faced aging facilities and mounting deferred maintenance costs that threaten their ability to conduct world‑class agricultural research,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release.
Grant applications are due July 17.
