Grants for farmers – Part 1: Grant listings

Katie Brandt<brandtk7@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

Listings of grants available to farmers from the USDA, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and others.

A person with a clipboard standing in front of a hoophouse.
Derrienne Reese wrote a SARE Youth Educator grant that was funded, now she can work with Detroit youth to design and plant an urban food forest as an outdoor STEM classroom.

Are there grants for farmers? Yes! Read on to see several directories of the grant programs that farmers can apply for. Each listing has links for numerous grants as well as details on how and when to apply. Future articles in this series will include tips on grant writing, information on funding conservation on farms and more.  

An important note is that agriculture grants can’t usually be used to buy farmland or pay people to farm. Most grants for farmers provide funds to create an innovative agricultural project and pay for their time and supplies specifically for that project. There are a few smaller grant programs with the flexibility to buy items useful for a farm or to attend farm conferences. Another grant-like program is the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) cost-share assistance to support conservation on farms through Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs like EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). Links for these conservation programs are included in the listings below, and a future article in this series will cover that topic as well.  

These lists of grants might be a good place to start:  

More information on each listing of grants is below.  

If you are new to grant writing, be sure to read the Request for Proposals (RFP) closely and follow every guideline precisely. Many grants also have a webinar or video to help prepare grantees for success and to answer questions. It may be smart to begin with a farmer-friendly grant, like a SARE Farmer Rancher grant or mini-grants. You can also get help with writing SARE grants from Michigan’s SARE coordinator Sarah Fronczak or Katie Brandt to refine your grant idea or recommend edits for your proposal draft. The MSU Product Center can support farmers and food businesses with some preparation for applying for a grant, for example by doing a feasibility study, market research or business planning. Michael Fields Institute offers grant-writing support or partnering with an experienced non-profit is also a great way to learn how to write and manage grants. An upcoming article in this series will offer insights into how to write winning grants. 

Grants for Farmers  

Grants for Farmers includes 14 grants and five cost-share and funding opportunities for Michigan farmers, including several new opportunities opening in the fall of 2024. Each listing shows the funder, when to apply, funding amount and match requirements and what the grant can fund. Because there is a QR code and hyperlink directly to each grant, this is useful as a printed or online guide. Four of the grants listed are new in 2024!  

Grassroots Guide to Federal Farm and Food Programs  

NSAC has created the most comprehensive and practical description of USDA grant and cost-share programs. In the Grassroots Guide to Federal Farm and Food Programs, you’ll find 49 funding opportunities described clearly. Each listing includes links to learn more, program basics, a list of grant types in the program, eligibility, examples of funded grants, how to apply, program history and total funding by year.  

NSAC maintains an updated website and partnered with SARE and Michael Fields Institute on a 2020 book and free PDF, Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities. The website and book detail seven programs for beginning farmers, eight conservation programs, nine programs for credit and crop insurance, two food safety programs, seven healthy food access initiatives, five opportunities for food systems, five programs for organic farmers, two renewable energy, four rural development and seven sustainable and organic research programs.  

After reviewing the NSAC list, you can typically link directly to the USDA page for that grant. It may also be useful to search grants.gov or the USDA Grants and Loans page.  

Michigan grant listings  

MDARD Grants and Funding Opportunities lists all agriculture grants funded by the state of Michigan.  

MIFFS has a Funding Opportunities webpage on their newly redesigned website. You may also want to sign up for their monthly emails for updates on which grants are open.  

MSU Center for Regional Food Systems created the Funding Sources for Food Related Businesses as well as Beyond Grants: Entrepreneurial Strategics for Funding Beginning Farmer Initiatives to highlight unique funding options for Michigan farmers, food businesses and agriculture educators. 

SARE grants 

NC-SARE offers six grant programs for farmers, farm educators and farm professionals to fund innovative research on sustainable farming and farmer-focused education. NC-SARE grants include Farmer Rancher Grants, Research and Education Grants, Youth Educator Grants other grant programs. You can find them all at the NC-SARE Grants webpage.  

Michigan SARE grants include the Michigan SARE Travel Scholarship and two funding opportunities for people organizing sustainable agriculture workshops and conferences.  

Michigan SARE coordinator Sarah Fronczak, Tribal SARE coordinator Emily Proctor and Katie Brandt from the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program are glad to advise grant applicants, review proposals and support farmers, educators and students applying for NCR-SARE grants. Grant-writing support is available free of charge for all six North Central SARE grants and for Michigan SARE mini-grants. Email froncza3@msu.edu or brandtk7@msu.edu with questions, to have a proposal reviewed or to set up a time to discuss your proposal idea. Tribal members and communities are encouraged to reach out to Emily Proctor at proctor8@msu.edu for assistance with SARE proposals. 

Michigan SARE aims to support an inclusive mix of farmers and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program or political beliefs.  

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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