Funding Opportunities

WRDC offers grants to address critical challenges and opportunities in rural communities across the western United States. Grant proposals are sought for research, outreach, and extension projects that foster sustainable development, enhance rural economic resilience, and improve the quality of life for rural populations. The priority areas focus on advancing the social and economic impact of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and food systems; improving the social and economic impact of natural resource sustainability; and promoting community and family development and health.

Grant proposals should address theoretical and practical aspects, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration, community and stakeholder engagement, and real-world application. Outreach and extension activities are critical for ensuring that research findings and innovations are translated into meaningful improvements for rural communities. Projects incorporating education, capacity-building, and direct support for rural residents and businesses are strongly encouraged.

Our center serves as a vital hub for synthesizing existing research knowledge, interpreting it for practical application and developing strategies to address pressing rural development issues of regional significance. Through technical consultation, personnel development initiatives and targeted research efforts, we equip stakeholders with the tools and expertise needed to navigate the complex landscape of rural development.

Emphasis is placed on projects that serve underrepresented groups, including women, ethnic and racial minorities, and those in rural regions or regions facing persistent poverty. This framework supports efforts to deliver tangible benefits and sustainable solutions for rural communities, promoting long-term prosperity and well-being throughout the region.

Multistate Projects

Address a western critical issue
Active involvement of at least 2 western land-grant institutions
Must include research and extension activities
Budget allocation to either component (research or Extension) cannot exceed 66%
Budget should not exceed $35,000

Fellow Projects

Only western faculty from land-grant institutions are eligible
Address a western critical issue
Budget should not exceed $15,000

Graduate Assistance

Address a western critical issue
Advisor and student apply together
Ph.D. students must have passed their qualifying or preliminary exams to apply
Budget should not exceed $36,000

WESTERN PRIORITIES

This priority area focuses on understanding the socio-economic impacts of agriculture, forestry, and fishing systems on rural communities while building resilient food systems that can withstand environmental, economic, and social challenges. Funded projects will create economic opportunities, promote resource sustainability through practices like precision agriculture and regenerative systems, and foster resilience in rural areas. Additionally, these projects will enhance food supply chain resilience, promote food sovereignty, empower rural producers to adapt to clean and sustainable production practices and encourage the consumption of healthy, nutritious food. Examples include:

Examining precision agriculture’s effects on rural job markets, economic diversification, and economic structures.
Factors addressing farm labor shortages, contributing to developing and adopting labor-saving or substituting technology, and implications for rural communities and families.
Examining innovations in forestry and fishing systems and their impacts on community development.
Assess the broad social, ethical, legal, ecological, and other potential impacts of gene drive/genome editing technologies on society, agricultural markets, consumer preferences, and other domains.
Social and economic implications of advances in science and technology, e.g., genomics, the microbiome, nanotechnology, and unmanned aerial vehicles; and opportunities and economic implications of “big data.”
Welfare analysis of existing policies to manage natural resources and their effectiveness in rural areas.
Research and develop effective strategies to develop efficient local and regional food systems.
Enhancing rural food supply chain resilience.
Supporting food sovereignty and localized food systems.
Develop effective strategies to aid in developing research, education, and extension/outreach programs to meet the needs of socially disadvantaged small and medium-sized farmers (including veterans).
Examine the varying forms of land tenure, especially among aging and beginning farmers, and identify the opportunities and obstacles to land access and land transfer for young, beginning, historically disadvantaged, veteran, or immigrant farmers and ranchers.
The feasibility of small to mid-scale processing for fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen fruits and vegetables, value-added processing for institutional buyers, or small-scale meat processing.
Assess the impacts of changes in input costs and markets, including farm labor (and immigration policies), credit, microfinance, and insurance markets (including healthcare), on-farm entry, transition, and economic viability, and, in turn, implement programs to assist beginning small and medium-sized farms.

Evaluate and implement strategies for effective marketing by small and medium-sized farms, including but not limited to production contracts, cooperative marketing, local/regional marketing (direct or intermediated), and engaging in export markets.
Examine approaches to expanding local and regional food systems, such as through food hubs and intermediated markets. Understand the best strategies for scaling up from direct marketing to regional markets and improving efficiencies while maintaining the benefits of local identity.
Examine transportation, energy, and other infrastructure-related decisions and their implications for agricultural and rural communities, including interagency initiatives.
The role of health insurance reform and access, especially the impact of health insurance access on the preservation of family farms, farmer quality of life, entry and retention of beginning farmers and farmworkers in the agricultural workforce, and promotion of agricultural job growth.
The impact of regulations (existing or reformed) on the farm-to-store food distribution.
Understanding the socioeconomic and cultural determinants of food waste and loss across the supply chain or within specific stages of the process, i.e., processing, transportation, marketing, and consumption, and the design of incentive mechanisms to minimize losses.
Understand consumers’ willingness to adapt/pay for healthy, nutritious, or locally produced food products.
Examine how the food system influences food insecurity and the potential for a causal relationship between food insecurity and health, educational attainment, employment, and overall economic well-being.
Explore the relationship between widely promoted norms for healthy eating (e.g., the Dietary Guidelines) and food production, distribution

This priority focuses on improving the long-term sustainability of rural economic and social welfare through effective natural resource management. Funded projects under this category will explore the trade-offs and impacts of managing agricultural, forestry, and fishery resources to ensure rural communities’ prosperity and environmental balance. Examples include:

Examine the economic effects or implications of urbanization and land use change.
Explore natural resource assets, including forests, rangeland, federal and state land, and their impacts on new business formation, new resident attraction and retention, and economic development and prosperity.
Examine relationships between natural disasters, climate change, natural resource conservation policies, and rural communities’ economic and social well-being.
Examine the economics of climate mitigation/adaptation and environmental policies and their impact on rural communities.

Examine the economic and social impact of recreation and tourism in rural communities.
Examine the economic and social impact of sustainable management and use of natural resources like soil, water, and forests.
Evaluate renewable energy’s role in rural development.
Connection of ecosystem health to local production system functionality, productivity, socioeconomic viability, and community resilience.
Examine the economics of biosecurity and the interaction and transmission

This priority focuses on enhancing rural communities’ well-being and economic opportunities by addressing the interconnected social, economic, and health factors influencing rural vitality. Funded projects will target physical, mental, and behavioral health alongside family development, youth leadership programs, and efforts to strengthen community engagement and social support systems. Additionally, this program supports research to advance rural prosperity, focusing on understanding and addressing the challenges of rural economic vitality, particularly for underrepresented groups such as women and ethnic minorities. Examples include:

Examine the determinants of household and community food security and potential approaches to ameliorating it.
Promote health literacy, mental health awareness, and physical activity.
Strengthen family development and youth leadership through programs like 4-H.
Strengthen leadership, particularly community leadership, to empower individuals to address local challenges, foster collaboration, and drive positive, sustainable change.
Examine the impacts of pandemics or other natural disasters on household and community food and nutrition security.
Identifying strategies for economic growth in regions of persistent extreme poverty that can directly or indirectly impact public health crises, including COVID-19, opioid abuse, and suicide.
Examining how broadband availability can directly or indirectly impact public health crises, including COVID-19, opioid abuse, and suicide.
Access to health care and health insurance, including research on rural medical care and treatment delivery strategies and infrastructure such as telemedicine; the challenges surrounding the rural opioid crisis.
Examine the potential relationship between access to broadband and health outcomes and educational attainment.
Explore place-making assets, including cultural amenities, performing arts, and rural communities’ aesthetic character, as well as their impacts on rural livability, new resident attraction and retention, and economic development and prosperity.
Develop and model networks of regional assets or factors (e.g., firms, organizations, communities, and infrastructure) and the links between them that aid the creation and nurture of rural economic development.
Understand the impact of promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) in rural areas on community and regional innovation, workforce development, poverty, inequality, and income.
Examine transportation, energy, and other infrastructure-related decisions and their implications for agricultural and rural communities.

Examine comprehensive strategies and promote the development of a relevant mix of factors (e.g., colleges, airports, amenities, telecommunications, etc.) that contribute to effective growth strategies as a base to develop innovative economic development policies and practices.
Improve the understanding of the factors and conditions that enhance economic or social opportunities and barriers for rural businesses.
Identify or evaluate the implications and impact of private decision-making and public policies, and development strategies to support small businesses.
Develop enhanced means for transferring new knowledge and innovations from the lab to the entrepreneur.
Explore the role of social capital in strengthening rural economies.
Investigate the impact of demographic changes on rural economic opportunities.
Examine and develop strategies to support minority, veteran, and women-owned businesses.
Examine self-employment/non-farm proprietorship and explore the factors that spur the growth and survival of these entrepreneurial efforts or that contribute to their demise.
Assess the impact of federal investments and strategies (e.g., Rural Utilities Service, National Telecommunication and Information Administration) on the expansion and impact of broadband in rural communities.
Examine the private and public returns to expanding broadband infrastructure into rural areas, the barriers to broadband deployment and adoption, and the mechanisms that might ameliorate those factors.
Exploring the relationship between access to broadband and entrepreneurship and job growth.
Examine the economic and social impact of affordable housing in rural areas, the barriers affecting affordable housing, and the mechanisms that might ameliorate those factors.
Examine rural businesses’ resilience to sudden shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and how adapting to new technology can enhance that resilience.
Empowering rural communities, minority-serving institutions, and 1994 and Pacific land-grant institutions to write successful community development investment and outreach program grants.