USDA announces grant funding to support bison production and marketing
On Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of up to $2 million in grant funding through the Bison Production and Marketing Grant Program (BPMGP).
This program aims to strengthen and enhance the production and marketing of bison and bison products in the U.S. and focuses on business and resource development, as well as the advancement of innovative solutions and approaches to support the long-term growth of the bison sector.
“The bison production and marketing grants will ensure our nation’s bison producers meet growing consumer demand for bison products and create lasting solutions to the industry’s most pressing issues,” states USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt in the Jan. 16 press release. “This investment builds on the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to diversify the meat sector and expand opportunities for local and regional producers.”
The program aims to offer practical solutions to challenges in the bison industry while highlighting measurable benefits for producers, fostering partnerships among industry organizations and minimizing duplicate efforts.
According to the press release, BPMGP comes in addition to other USDA investments supporting Tribal food systems, which include the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program, Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, Local Food for Schools and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
Investments like these further the USDA’s Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative, which aims to promote traditional food practices and reimagine federal food and agriculture programs from an Indigenous perspective.
USDA will use a competitive process to select one or more organizations, which will then issue competitive sub awards to support the bison industry.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service will prioritize selections of national nonprofits and federally chartered Tribal organizations with expertise in bison production or marketing.
They encourage applications from those aiming to serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, historically underserved producers, Veteran producers and underserved communities.
USDA supports additional bison programs
In July 2024, the USDA awarded a $1.9 million research grant to South Dakota State University (SDSU) to support bison producers in South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas.
The project will be led by SDSU Assistant Professor of Bison Biology and Management Jeff Martin, who is regarded as the nation’s leading Extension bison specialist.
According to a Jan. 7 article by Addison DeHaven and published by SDSU, the university is dedicated to supporting bison ranchers across the Great Plains.
“I’m excited to lead this team to advance knowledge about bison and their grazing ecology. We will coordinate with bison producers to implement actionable management practices which contribute to enhanced sustainability,” Martin states. “Dr. Joshua Leffler and Dr. Lora Perkins will lead efforts to understand how the soil and plants change with bison grazing, while Dr. Rachel Short will generate educational resources to address bison producer needs.”
During the experiment, Martin and his team will evaluate the environmental impact of bale grazing on soil and wildlife habitats while also monitoring the health of bison.
The findings from this research will contribute to promoting sustainable bison ranching practices in the region.
“We will also implement several workshop training modules for producers and various nationwide train-the-trainer workshops for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and land-grant university Extension agents to become better acquainted with bison biology and ecology, as well as bison management practices such as winter bale grazing,” Martin adds.
SDSU has collaborated with the National Bison Association, Tanka Fund and a private producer on a project financed by the Conservation Innovation Grants from the USDA’s NRCS, the article reports.
This initiative is part of a broader $90 million investment from the federal government aimed at developing new tools, approaches, practices and technologies to enhance natural resource conservation on private lands.
Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
