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One of the most frequent calls over the past few years has been, “I want to start a farm/business/value added product (etc.).”
That is usually followed up with, “What grants/funding sources are available?”
After rattling off a list of a few common sources of funding for new farmers there’s an added caveat that
I don’t know the current status of those programs or what restrictions they have regarding new farming
ventures. There are more programs out there with available funding, but there’s no comprehensive list
of all grant programs supporting agricultural businesses, until now.
Farm Credit East has just released a report “identifying federal, regional and state grants, loan
guarantees, and other incentives available to assist Northeast producers of all types and sizes.”
“Grants can be a great resource to provide additional funds needed to take on larger projects,” said
Chris Laughton, Farm Credit East Director of Knowledge Exchange. “Unfortunately, they’re often underutilized because they can be time consuming and involve quite a bit of paperwork.”
The report, from Farm Credit East Knowledge Exchange, includes funding opportunities available in
the eight states served by Farm Credit East. Programs are categorized by their main focus: beginning
farmers; conservation, environment and forestry; energy; fisheries and aquaculture; organic; rural
business development; and research, education and promotion.
The report titled Grants and Incentives for Northeast Agriculture is available at FarmCreditEast.com.
or by contacting Chris Laughton at (800) 562-2235 or Chris.Laughton@farmcrediteast.com for more
information.
Farm Credit East also has grant writing assistance services. Information is available on their
grant writing page.