Steve Hadcock | Team Leader | CAAHP

One common question I get from aspiring or new farmers is, “are there any grants that will help me start my farm business?” The answer is mostly “no.” There might be some funding options to assist new and established farms with specific needs. For example, funds may be available through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to help with erosion control or other conservation practices.

A good first step is to contact the USDA offices that serve your county. I recommend starting with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to verify your farm’s information in the USDA system first. After that, you can speak with FSA and NRCS staff to discuss what may be available at the time.

New York State does have a grant program for beginning farmers (for those who have been operating a farm business for 10 years or less). The NY Farm Viability Institute manages this grant program for the state. Here is a link https://nyfvi.org/bfcg-program-2/ to information on their website.

There are some additional grant opportunities for NYS farmers. My colleague, Liz Higgins, from the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, has created a webpage that lists funding sources for farmers. Here is a link https://blogs.cornell.edu/enychp/business/funding_sources/

to that listing.

Many grants will have an application period of several weeks. One may think, “I have plenty of time to write my grant application.” Yes, you may be able to write a grant application easily in the allotted time, but how good will it be? Purdue University has a good fact sheet on writing a grant application. Here is a link https://edustore.purdue.edu/ec-737-w.html to access the fact sheet. It is a free publication, but you must register to receive it. If you would like me to send a copy to you, contact me directly.