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Agriculture Innovation Center Program

Welcome to the Agriculture Innovation Center (AIC) home page. Here you will find information on this program including eligibility requirements, eligible and ineligible uses of grant funds, proposal preparation, and the criteria that will be used to evaluate submitted proposals. Here is where you will also find when and where to submit proposals.

The AIC Program was authorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, better known as the 2002 Farm Bill. The 2002 Farm Bill establishes four related, but different, programs that are funded from a pool of $40 million per year. The programs are (1) the Value-Added Producer Grants (VAPG), (2) the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC), (3) Agriculture Innovation Centers (AIC), and (4) the Value-Added University Research Grant. This portion of the website deals only with the AIC Program.

The AIC Program funds innovation centers for work on providing technical and business development assistance to agricultural producers seeking to enter into ventures that add value to commodities or products they produce. Grants are awarded through a competitive process. Up to ten grants may be awarded and the maximum amount that can be awarded is $1,000,000. The grants are for a one-year project period. A Notice of Funding Available (NOFA) was issued on September 11, 2003. The application period closed on September 16, 2003. Award selections were announced on September 26, 2003.

A proposed regulation has also been drafted to govern the program. The proposed regulation has been published in the Federal Register. The comment period for the proposed regulation closed on August 12, 2003. RBS has reviewed the comments and made appropriate modifications to the regulation. The draft of the final regulation is now in the clearance process and is expected to be published in the Federal Register this fall.

The program is only authorized through fiscal year 2004. Therefore, it is expected that one funding opportunity will be announced in 2004 in the Federal Register.

If you have questions about the AIC Program, please contact Marc Warman in the RBS National Office to obtain additional information and assistance. He may be reached by phone at (202) 690-1431 or by e-mail at marc.warman@usda.gov