Part one of a three-part series. Blog Post 2 Small Farms With an Outsized Share. Blog Post 3 Get Ready for VAPG FY27
What the fiscal year 2026 Value-Added Producer Grant awards show about where USDA’s money went, and what that may tell us about who will be rewarded next year. If you raise cattle, that could be good news.
Beef producers had their strongest year in four cycles, and the shift is large enough to raise real questions about how FY27 might look. Understanding what changed and what did not can help producers decide whether to apply or wait.
On September 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $26.5 million in Value-Added Producer Grants for 194 projects across the country. Beef producers won more money than any other group. They took 80 projects, 41 percent of the total, and $11.6 million, 44 percent of the dollars. Share of projects and share of dollars are two different measurements, and they do not always move together. In FY26 they point the same direction. Secretary Rollins called these grants an investment in the Great American Cattle Herd. I wanted to know if this was a one-time bump or the start of a trend, so I downloaded four years of award data from USDA. Here is what I found.
A single swallow does not make a summer
USDA’s award download counts differently than the press release. It lists 205 award rows for FY26, not 194 projects, so the beef share below is lower than the 41 percent in the announcement. I used the download for all four years, so every year is measured the same way.
I measured beef’s share of VAPG awards from fiscal year 2023 through FY26: 21 percent, 22 percent, 16 percent, and 35 percent. For three years, beef held steady at about one in five awards. FY25 was Beef's lowest year. In FY26, beef rose to more than one in three awards, its best showing of the four years.
Other groups changed too. Crop production fell from 32 percent of awards in FY25 to 21 percent in FY26. Vegetables held steady at about 10 percent, the same as past years. Beef’s rise did not happen in isolation. The shift looks less like a universal expansion and more like a redistribution of attention. Award data shows outcomes, not intentions. It tells us who succeeded, not why they scored well.
What the data can’t tell us
Will beef keep winning? That is a fair question, and the math alone won’t settle it. The numbers cannot tell you what an administration says it is prioritizing or what it does next. To understand what might happen, pair the numbers with the administration’s stated priorities.
This year, USDA launched the Ranchers First Initiative, which names cattle directly in its requirements, and two executive orders addressed ranching and livestock markets. That is not proof VAPG scoring will follow the same path. But it is a clear statement of where attention is going right now. The same holds for whichever administration is in office. Watch what gets said and what policies are put in place, not just what the award data shows after the fact.
How will we know?
USDA has not posted the FY27 Notice of Funding Opportunity yet. Each year’s notice sets that cycle’s priorities, award limits, and scoring points, and those change from year to year. Read every page of the notice and watch for administration signals.
How did New England fare in FY26? The results look different. I break down how New England and New York did, state by state, in How New England and New York Did in VAPG, FY26
Looking to learn more about the Value-Added Producer Grant? Book a no-pressure 30-minute call with me.
Sources
USDA Rural Development, press release September 18, 2026: $26.5 million in value-added producer grants for 194 projects
USDA VAPG award data,
USDA Ranchers First
Executive orders on ranching and livestock markets
Secretary Rollins, “Great American Cattle Herd” quote