Feds reinstate massive grant for University of Idaho agriculture project

What had been the largest grant ever given to the University of Idaho, before federal officials rescinded it last year, has now become the largest do-over in school history as the same agency leaders decided to re-award the grant that will be used by Gem State farmers to find new ways to market their specialty growing methods and crops.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's $59 million grant initially was approved in 2024 as part of a five-year project titled the Innovative Agriculture and Marketing Partnership. But just as school officials began issuing contracts and working with graduate students over summer work schedules, the USDA rescinded the grant after changing the rules on how it would be paid out.

The initial grant would have given about 56% of its funds directly to participating farmers. Federal officials required Idaho to bump that up to 65% of the funds to qualify for the money.

The program was changed, resubmitted and university officials learned two weeks ago that the grant again would be coming to Moscow, said Erin Brooks, a professor in the Department of Soil and Water Systems at Idaho.

"At this point, we are just setting up the budgets," Brooks said. "Of course it's going to take some transition to set up the people and the infrastructure to get these contracts going. It's going to take a little bit of time to get growers under contract again.

"We'll be working throughout the summer, gearing up, and by this fall we'll be having a lot of contracts with growers."

The program eventually will work with more than 200 farmers in 34 Idaho counties. The program's goal will be to set up a system of marketing and scientific monitoring to try to figure out what methods prompt consumers to purchase Idaho commodities.

The project, referred to by its acronym, IAMP, will hire a marketing specialist, who will study outcomes of participants' marketing efforts and three financial staff members.

Eligible IAMP practices include reduced tillage, cover cropping, prescribed grazing, intercropping, reducing use of synthetic fertilizers in favor of organic nutrient sources and biochar use. Projects will involve Idaho-produced barley, beef, chickpeas, hops, potatoes, sugar beets and wheat.

"For a producer, this is an excellent opportunity to try things that you haven't tried before - that are high risk but potentially high reward," Brooks said. "From the industry perspective, they're looking at stewardship and they're looking at producing healthier foods from healthy soils."

Consumers want to know more about the soils and the resulting crops. The goal of the project is to allow farmers to market that information, which could lead to more money to those farmers who specialize their efforts, he said.

In addition to the Idaho farmers, the grant will also work with the Nature Conservancy, Desert Mountain Grass-Fed Beef and the Nez Perce and Coeur d'Alene tribes.

Brooks noted that the project also aims to reinvigorate interest in the farming industry by younger generations.

"The motivation of my career is, how do I help agriculture and at the same time improve the quality and soils and have the next generation of farmers really want to farm?" Brooks said. "With AI and all the tools we have, this is a good opportunity to hopefully convince some of the younger generations to continue farming."

As part of the program, officials will host field events to publicly show practices on the ground throughout the state.

Any data generated through IAMP will be shared at grower meetings, field days, regional conferences and other events catering to Idaho farmers. IAMP research updates will also be posted at iamp.uidaho.edu, said Doug Finkelnburg, a U of I Extension educator in cropping systems who is helping manage the program.

"The practices we're incentivizing will help make the farms more resilient to risk," Finkelnburg said. "We're incentivizing practices that build soil carbon, increase water storage in soils and make it less risky to do production agriculture."

If done correctly, Brooks said, the marketing project could prompt a resurgence of economies in small Washington towns like Oakesdale and Tekoa.

"What if we brought back sustainable agriculture and grow it in the Pacific Northwest in a way that is economically viable and healthy?" Brooks said. "That's the dream. That's my dream."

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 7:02 PM.