Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) | USDA NIFA VSGP 007172

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA VSGP 007172

The Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) is a competitive grant opportunity run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) that focuses on reducing shortages of food animal veterinary services, especially in rural areas that have been formally identified as veterinarian shortage situations. At its core, the program is meant to build and sustain the workforce and practice capacity needed to keep food animal agriculture healthy and productive, while also supporting broader public goals like food safety, animal health, and public health. The program also explicitly includes U.S. insular areas as part of its intended service scope, with the specific definition of "insular area" referenced in the official Request for Applications (RFA).

VSGP funds activities that strengthen the pipeline of trained professionals and help practices operate more effectively in shortage regions. The program supports both education and extension efforts, along with practice enhancement initiatives, so that veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and veterinary technician students can gain specialized skills and access resources that make service delivery more feasible. This can include adding equipment or personnel and other practice supports that directly improve a clinic's ability to serve livestock and other food animal producers in underserved communities. The overall intent is not only to train people, but to make it practical for private practitioners to deliver food animal veterinary care where it is most difficult to staff and sustain.

The grant program lays out three main categories of projects it will support. First, it can fund the establishment or expansion of accredited veterinary education programs and related training pathways, including residencies, fellowships, internships, and externships, as long as these are carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. This emphasis on accredited, coordinated programming is meant to ensure training quality and alignment with the profession's standards while growing hands-on opportunities that can steer trainees toward shortage-area work.

Second, VSGP supports continuing education and extension activities aimed at current and future animal health professionals. This includes distance-based approaches such as veterinary telemedicine and other remote learning formats, which can help reach practitioners and technicians who cannot easily travel for training. These projects are intended to strengthen veterinary programs, expand access to up-to-date clinical and herd health knowledge, and support improvements tied to food safety and public health outcomes. In practice, that can mean improving disease prevention and response capacity, strengthening biosecurity and surveillance knowledge, and helping rural practices stay connected to modern standards of care and emerging issues.

Third, the program can cover travel and living expenses for trainees and early-career professionals, including veterinary students, interns, externs, fellows, residents, and veterinary technicians. This piece matters because it lowers the financial barrier to participating in rural placements, internships, or specialty training experiences that are often essential for building competence in food animal practice but can be costly to pursue. By offsetting those costs, VSGP helps widen participation and makes it more realistic for trainees to spend meaningful time in shortage areas, where exposure and mentorship can influence long-term career decisions.

Administratively, this opportunity is listed as a discretionary grant under CFDA (now commonly referred to as Assistance Listing) 10.336. The funding opportunity is identified as "USDA NIFA VSGP 007172," with an original application closing date of April 7, 2020, and a creation date of February 4, 2020. The listing notes the eligible applicants category as "Others," but applicants are expected to rely on the RFA for the exact eligibility rules, required partnerships, and any constraints on who may apply and how the project must be structured. NIFA also emphasizes that meeting all RFA requirements is essential; if an application fails to satisfy eligibility criteria by the deadline, it can be excluded from consideration or prevent an award from being made.

In practical terms, the VSGP is designed for organizations that can credibly train, place, and support veterinary professionals and technicians, while also improving the capacity of rural food animal practices to operate effectively. Successful projects typically align training and service delivery so that rural communities get more consistent veterinary coverage, practices gain tools and staffing support, and the broader agricultural system benefits from stronger animal health services that protect productivity and public health. For exact eligibility, allowable costs, selection criteria, and required application components, the program directs prospective applicants to the official RFA and NIFA's federal grants overview materials.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.336.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-02-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-04-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA VSGP 007172

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