Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program Projects

Learn about the 50 locally led projects that will help improve access to land, capital, and markets for underserved farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.

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2020 Farmers Cooperative Land Access and Farm Academy Program

Project Lead Applicant: 2020 Farmers Cooperative

Project Geographic Area: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina

Target Audience: Black and Brown Farmers

Project Description: The 2020 Farmers Cooperative will utilize this grant opportunity to support historically underserved farmers in overcoming core barriers to attaining access to land, capital, market opportunities, and technical resources. The Cooperative will implement a Land Access and Farm Academy Program, which will offer 1) a microgrant program for farmers, 2) a re-lending program distributing the land owned by the Cooperative, 3) support in positioning farmers to participate in USDA programs and services, and 4) dedicated training and technical assistance through our Farm Academy program. The project will leverage the purchase of 450 acres of farmland into an accessible, low-interest rate re-lending program for 100 farmers and the establishment of two Farm Academy hands-on agricultural learning labs. These learning labs will provide trust-based training and technical assistance to 1,688 farmers in 10 different states and territories in the Southeast, Midwest, and Atlantic regions of the United States.

AIMI Restoring Resilience in Indigenous and Land Based Communities by Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access for Producers

Project Lead Applicant: American Indian Mothers (AIM), Inc.

Project Geographic Area: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The overall goal of this project is to heal cultural trauma through farmland access and cooperation among Indigenous-led regional organizations. Reclaiming land makes a difference in healing cultural traumas. This project seeks to form Indigenous Farming Cooperatives (IFC) with similar cooperative entities that create solidarity through which farmland and wraparound technical assistance services can be provided to Indigenous farmers; facilitate educational mentorship programs; and build collective resources. A partner team will work to establish or plan IFCs or similar collaborative operations in each of four target geographic areas, and support Indigenous and Land Based farmers’ access to land, capital, and markets through the programs offered by each entity.  As a result, Indigenous, rural farmer and producer competitiveness and adaptability will improve—moving these farmers from surviving to thriving.

 

Black Belt Land Access Program

Project Lead Applicant: Center For Heirs Property Preservation

Project Geographic Area: Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas

Target Audience: BIPOC

Project Description: The goals of the Black Belt Land Access Program are (1) to increase land access for underserved landowners/producers so they can increase their opportunities to access capital and markets in agriculture which will result in viable farming/forestry operations and (2) build and deepen infrastructure in the subregion of East Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi for addressing Heirs Property

among black producers

 

Black Farmer Capital, Land, and Market Access Plan

Project Lead Applicant: Black Oregon Land Trust

Project Geographic Area: Oregon

Target Audience: Black farmers

Project Description: The goals of this project are 1: To provide secure and affordable land access to Black-led farms throughout Oregon using a community trust model, 2: To expand access to start-up capital, alternative farm financing, and pathways to economic viability for Black farmers , 3: To improve the Oregon’s Black agricultural community’s relationship with and access to USDA and related services, and 4: To increase institutional market access for Oregon’s Black farmers and producers.

 

Catalyzing Equitable Access to Land, Capital, and Market Opportunities through an Agroecologically Steward Land Commons, Diversified Technical Support Program, and Resource Sharing Cooperative

Project Lead Applicant: Agroecology Commons

Project Geographic Area: Principal Counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Merced, Sonoma, Cities: Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, Fresno, State: California

Target Audience: QTBIMPOC Producers

Project Description: Through the proposed project and in collaboration with the California Alliance of Family Farms (CAFF), AC aims to develop and implement innovative solutions that catalyze equitable access to land, capital, and market opportunities for QTBIMPOC producers in the Bay Area. Through the proposed project, CAFF will provide AC’s farmer network education and training about current state-level land access policy. In return, AC’s network will provide CAFF with insight and context about the current barriers and challenges facing QTBIMPOC farmers that are seeking to access land and expand their business.

 

Chippewa Cree Tribe Land Access Grant Program FY22 CCTLAGP FY22

Project Lead Applicant: Chippewa Cree Tribe Of The Rocky Boy Reservation, The

Project Geographic Area: Montana

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers and Producers

Project Description: The Chippewa Cree Tribe (CCT) will develop and administer the Chippewa Cree Tribe Land Access Grant Program CCTLAGP designed to align with and respond to land, capital, and market access needs of the target audience. CCTLAGP will acquire 2,500 acres of grazing land, 160 acres of grazing land for the fall season, and 320 acres of dryland crop. Acquired land will be used to provide 5 tribal members (farmers/producers) with access to grazing land. CCTLAGP will also provide wraparound technical assistance to 20 beginning farmers and producers (tribal members) ensuring that program participants have the information, training, and customized support they need in order to adequately maintain and sustain an agriculture business.

 

Creating a Mid-Atlantic Land-Access-to-Market Pipeline (LAMP) Program for Small-Scale Specialty Crop Farmers of the Black Diaspora

Project Lead Applicant: Ourspace World, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: MD, VA

Target Audience: Black Farmers

Project Description: The proposed Land-Access-to-Market Pipeline (LAMP) Program will target small-scale socially disadvantaged specialty crop farmers of the Black Diaspora in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The overarching goals of this project are to:

1) Aggregate: Increase access to farm-to-institution markets,

2) Incubate: Increase access to land,

3) Multiply: Increase access to capital, and

4) Scale: Develop and disseminate a blueprint to replicate the LAMP model to other regions

 

Creating a Pathway to Land Ownership for Immigrants, Refugees, and Underserved Farmers in MA, ME, NY, and FL

Project Lead Applicant: World Farmers Inc.

Project Geographic Area: ME, MA, NY, FL

Target Audience: Immigrants, Refugees, and Underserved Farmers

Project Description: This collaborative project entitled Creating a Pathway to Land Ownership for Immigrants, Refugees, and Underserved Farmers in MA, ME, NY, and FL will increase farmland ownership

and access for underserved farmers, transition open land into viable farmland, and preserve farmland in perpetuity all while enhancing immigrant and refugee farmers’ business viability and

utilization of USDA programs and services. Every piece of land purchased as a result of this project will be ushered through a three-pronged approach to increase farmland ownership by underserved

farmers: 1) accessing USDA-FSA farm ownership loan; 2) utilizing project funds through two notable new programs developed through this project; and 3) identifying third party funds.

 

Decolonizing Iowa's Land Wealth: Financing Affordable Food Farms for the Next Generation of Farmers

Project Lead Applicant: Sustainable Iowa Land Trust

Project Geographic Area: IA

Target Audience: BIPOC, Latinx, immigrant, refugee, and other underrepresented individuals

Project Description: This project will serve underrepresented farmers on the edge of viability in the three Iowa cities with the largest populations of BIPOC, Latinx, immigrant, refugee, and other underrepresented individuals (Des Moines, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids). This project will help farmers overcome two monumental challenges that they often face when building and sustaining their farms: navigating public and private financial assistance programs and tackling the increasingly high cost of land in Iowa.

 

Development of Long-Term Agricultural Lease Agreements on Publicly Owned Land to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Beginning and Continuing Urban and Peri-Urban Farmers in Alameda County

Project Lead Applicant: Alameda County R C D

Project Geographic Area: Alameda County, California

Target Audience: BIPOC, poor, or as being from otherwise minority or underserved communities urban farmers

Project Description: Developing a program that puts public land into agricultural leases contributes to solving a number of concurrent problems related to land access and agricultural viability in Alameda County. Most importantly, it puts underused land to work. It would create new jobs and economic opportunities, increase food security, and will likely provide a net climate benefit. Secondly, the project will streamline the leasing of public land which should make the process easier for landholders and land holding agencies, more equitable for (potential) farmers, and reduce administrative burdens for both. Third, with a programmatic focus on providing long-term (5-10 year) leases, lessees will have greater stability, will be eligible for grant programs, and have increased access to capital and technical assistance.

 

East Multnomah County Immigrant & Refugee Farmland Access Project

Project Lead Applicant: Community Development Corporation Of Oregon

Project Geographic Area: Oregon

Target Audience: Disadvantaged refugee and immigrant beginning farmers

Project Description: This program will provide long term and stable land access to disadvantaged refugee and immigrant beginning farmers in east Multnomah & Clackamas counties (OR). The goals of the project are to: 1) purchase the currently rented 18.5 acre farm; 2) reduce the net cost of the land through a conservation or working lands easement; 3) provide an equitable and engaging process of education and training about cooperative land ownership, finance concepts, and related USDA programs; 4) present two vetted ownership models with organizations and resources that could support it; 5) through an equitable decision making model allow the farmers to make a decision about the particular cooperative ownership model they would like to pursue; and, 6) establish an innovative, duplicable and forward-funding model which results in at least 1 additional property or expansion within 10 years.

 

Farmworkers to Farm Stewards: Community Milpa Land Project

Project Lead Applicant: Community Agroecology Network

Project Geographic Area: California

Target Audience: Latinx, Indigenous

Project Description: This project’s overarching objective is to secure long-term farmland access for campesino families in Tierras Milperas’ network and to pilot an innovative financial ecosystem that results in long-term sustainability and equity among small-scale producers in the region. This project will have an immediate impact on approximately 140 Latinx and indigenous farmworkers and their families most of whom are working in the regional berry agro-industry and earning less than $20,000 per year and are transitioning to managing an aggregate farming operation.

 

Filling the Gaps in Access to Land and Capital for Kansas City-area Urban Farmers

Project Lead Applicant: Cultivate Kansas City Inc.

Project Geographic Area: Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS

Target Audience: Refugees and Black Urban Growers

Project Description: Kansas City metropolitan area urban farmers will benefit by the project improving access to affordable, geographically appropriate farmland and assistance with the removal of barriers to urban farmers participating in federal, state, and local agricultural grant and loan programs.

 

For Us, By Us: Land Access and Non-Extractive Capital Practices

Project Lead Applicant: African Alliance of Rhode Island (AARI)

Project Geographic Area: RI: Rhode Island Northeast and Southern New England

Target Audience: Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous farmers and People of Color

Project Description: For Us, By Us will increase opportunities for farmland ownership and tenureship through training, capacity-building, and new financing resources for Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous farmers and People of Color engaged in agricultural production in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

 

From Surviving to Thriving: Capitalizing a new generation of farmers to address their core land and market access needs and catalyze long-term viability

Project Lead Applicant: Grow Food

Project Geographic Area: WA

Target Audience: Historically Underserved Farmers (HUF)

Project Description: To overcome the systemic and programmatic barriers that Historically Underserved Farmers (HUF) face in accessing secure, long-term land tenure, the goal of this project is to deploy creative and blended capital arrangements that move HUF from the edge of viability to long-term resilience. This overarching goal will be achieved through two objectives: 1) Develop and implement a capital deployment process to effectively and equitably provide capital to beginning and historically underserved farmers for land and market access; and 2) Capitalize beginning and historically underserved farmers through creative and blended capital arrangements to facilitate long-term farmland access and ownership, and expanded market access.

Gaining New Ground - Improving land access and land security for underserved farmers of color in North Carolina, Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico

Project Lead Applicant: Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA

Project Geographic Area: NC, FL, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands

Target Audience: BIPOC Farmers

Project Description: The overarching goal of the proposed Gaining New Ground project is to improve land access and land security for underserved farmers of color in four areas: North Carolina (NC), Florida (FL), U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), and Puerto Rico (PR). This will be accomplished by addressing core barriers to access land, credit, and markets, while also working to retain farmland by mitigating and preventing land loss. The project will work to meet the needs of underserved farmers on the edge of viability by delivering culturally-relevant outreach and education, providing targeted technical and financial assistance and examining and addressing barriers to accessing USDA programs in regions with significant populations of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) farmers, particularly those who are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. The project will further work to improve land access by exploring the feasibility of establishing an agricultural land trust in Caribbean region and bolstering an existing land trust in Puerto Rico.

 

Increasing Access for Underserved Farmers in Maine

Project Lead Applicant: Maine Farmland Trust

Project Geographic Area: Maine

Target Audience: Low income farmers, with a preference given to BIPOC and New American populations

Project Description: Intended outcomes for the participating farmers are: (1) secure long-term land tenancy on 3-4 farm properties for at least 3-4 underserved farmers or farm families with the potential for ownership transfer, long-term lease, or some other appropriate farmer-supporting tenancy vehicle; (2) access to low-interest capital for land purchase or business operations; (3) farm upgrades and infrastructure investments that promote viability; (4) active engagement by program participants with technical assistance in the areas of real estate and business planning; and (5) demonstrable progress against annual goals set by farmers to achieve and maintain long-term farmland access and farm business viability.

 

Increasing Land and Capital Access for the Mountain Plains Region's Tribal Areas

Project Lead Applicant: Four Bands Community Fund Inc.

Project Geographic Area: ND, SD, MT, WY

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The proposed project will serve tribal areas across a four-state region comprised of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming – four of the least and most sparsely populated states in the nation, but with some of the highest concentrations of Native American people.  With a focus on land access and capital access, Four Bands Community Fund has designed the proposed 5-year project to overcome historical challenges so that at least 25 underserved, low-income agricultural producers in the tribal areas of the Mountain Plains Region can start, expand, or sustain a profitable agricultural operation. This overarching goal will be achieved by:

1. Delivering 500 hours (approximately 20 hours annually to each participant) of customized one-on-one technical assistance to agricultural producers through a variety of methods, including in-person, telephone, or video conference.
2. Deploying $6,603,750 in lending capital for the purposes of land purchase, land loss prevention, or tribal trust mortgages.
3. Disbursing $733,750 in equity bundles to support land purchases, land loss prevention strategies, or tribal trust mortgages.

 

Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access for Marginalized Farmers

Project Lead Applicant: Khuba International

Project Geographic Area: New York

Target Audience: BIPOC growers and farmers

Project Description: With long-term goals to (1) support BIPOC moderate to experienced farmers to gain access to Federal, State, and Local resources to support and sustain their farming efforts and (2) provide farmland governance and ownership opportunities to BIPOC growers and farmers, this Project, Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access for Marginalized Farmers, facilitated by the Quarter Acre for the People (QAP), a program of Khuba International, gives direct attention to BIPOC farmers in the early to mid-stages of managing farmland land in a way that embodies ecologically-sound and community-engaged stewardship principles and facilitates the target audience to shift from surviving as farmers to thriving as farmers.  The project’s 3 objectives are

1. Improve the resourcing, program access skill and confidence of 50 farmers (20 beginning and 30 moderate to experienced) through government programs, resource access, networks of support and training and classes
2. Increase the successful development of 12 BIPOC-owned farm businesses through entrepreneurial support, financial management, marketing guidance, product incubation opportunities, and individualized coaching services.
3. Support farmers in the purchase of farmland and in the development of cooperative structures of land governance to perform secure land transactions and long term land tenure.

 

Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program in the Great Lakes Region

Project Lead Applicant: Menominee Indian Tribe Of Wisconsin

Project Geographic Area: Wisconsin

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The goals of this project are to: Support Successful Emerging Intertribal Food System Efforts: This component would support a successful proof of concept that began in 2021 with a pilot distribution of food boxes to Tribal elders with three Wisconsin Tribes before expanding to all eleven Wisconsin Tribes in 2022. A significant contract grower fund would be a major aspect of this component.

Establish an Equity Capital Fund:  This proposal component seeks to establish a $3 million Equity Capital Fund providing support for Tribal producers’ land, equipment, and operational needs. The fund would seek to leverage additional funding and resources by stacking opportunities to draw further capital and stretch available resources.

Provided Targeted Technical Assistance: Connecting to leveraging existing resources, this component would provide training to professional support staff and direct assistance to Tribal producers in developing comprehensive farm and food business plans, including conservation plans to support expanded production and access to the full suite of USDA and other support resources.

 

Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Through the Agrarian Commons

Project Lead Applicant: Agrarian Land Trust

Project Geographic Area: communities across the country

Target Audience: BIPOC Underserved Farmers

Project Description: The goal of this project is to create and strengthen land access with additional opportunities to focus on capital access and market access for use in agriculture on a mid-size national landscape using the innovative design of the Agrarian Commons, to secure long-term access and tenure and mitigating land loss.  The target audience is Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) underserved farmers, most of whom also identify as new and beginning lower-revenue new and beginning specialty crop growers and livestock farmers, who need land access, security, and knowledge of and access to Federal agricultural programs.

 

Increasing Secure Land Tenure and Farm Viability: Supporting Underserved Farmers with Long-Term Permanence in Connecticut

Project Lead Applicant: Connecticut Department of Agriculture

Project Geographic Area: Connecticut

Target Audience: BIPOC emerging farmers

Project Description: Through this program, Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg) will support land access and secure land tenure for BIPOC farmers through equitable leasing or direct land acquisition. The CT DoAg program comes from extensive dialogue with the members of the department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group, which has highlighted the need for an unencumbered, customized technical assistance service that each BIPOC producer can trust and depend on as they build stability and viability for their farm business.

 

Innovative Strategies for Securing BIPOC Farmland Access and Tenure in the Upper Midwest

Project Lead Applicant: University Of Wisconsin System

Project Geographic Area: IL, MN, WI, ND

Target Audience: BIPOC Farmers

Project Description: The goal of this project is to combine capital source innovation with community-specific technical assistance to both keep disadvantaged farmland owners on their land and help new disadvantaged farmers become landowners for the first time.

 

Ka Mea Kanu. In Hawaiian language, Ka Mea Kanu literally means "the planted items" or "the cultivars" which represents local farm businesses requiring care to grow

Project Lead Applicant: Pacific Gateway Center

Project Geographic Area: HI

Target Audience: Immigrant, Refugee, Survivors of Human Trafficking, Underserved Populations, Underserved Minority Producers

Project Description: The goal of this project is to improve the productivity of farmland and viability of businesses along the food value chain in the State of Hawaiʻi through technical assistance and match making between viable producers and landowners, viable producers and capital, and viable producers and potential markets. Hawai‘i unique opportunities come from a large proportion of land held by a small number of organizations, a local funding landscape devoid of large, national banks, and a market demanding a high variety of non-commodity produce that relies heavily on imports.

 

King County Farmland Access Program

Project Lead Applicant: County Of King

Project Geographic Area: King County, WA

Target Audience: BIPOC and other historically underserved farmers

Project Description: The overarching goals of the King County Farmland Access Program are to 1) support establishment and expansion of farm businesses operated by new and beginning; BIPOC and other historically underserved farmers, and 2) provide technical and business assistance needed to enable those farms to become economically viable. This project proposal builds upon the foundation established by King County’s farmland leasing program and creates a more comprehensive approach to land access, technical support, and farm program education. One of the key strategies of this project is to make farmland and infrastructure accessible to individuals and groups who have faced historic and systemic barriers to accessing land through alternative land tenure models that can potentially be adopted in this region and beyond.

 

Leveraging a Latino-led CDFI to provide Capital, Market, and Land Access to Underserved Farmers

Project Lead Applicant: Latin Economic Development Center

Project Geographic Area: Minnesota

Target Audience: Latino & Underserved Farmers

Project Description: This project lays out a collaborative roadmap for partnership between LEDC - a Latino-led CDFI, Land Stewardship Project (LSP) - a large Farmer-led organization, The Good Acre (TGA) - a warehouse and distribution center specifically designed to work with underserved producers, and The Conservation Fund (TCF) - a national conservation trust with a Working Farms Fund. This Partnership will work to systematically address the needs of underserved farmers by leveraging the unique skillset of a Certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), with demonstrated agricultural lending experience, to provide access to capital to underserved producers while connecting those producers to 1) crucial market contracts 2) a system for identifying and working with land owners who are looking to transfer their land’s ownership 3) A conservation fund with the ability to purchase and hold land for underserved farmers until other financing can be found

 

Local Food Economy Lab Land Access Initiative

Project Lead Applicant: San Diego Food System Alliance

Project Geographic Area: CA

Target Audience: Underserved BIPOC communities, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+, seniors, individuals with low income, and those advancing community ownership and collaborative models

Project Description: The goal of the Local Food Economy Lab Land Access Initiative is to expand technical assistance services, establish viable and equitable pathways to land access, and connect underserved producers with the capital and markets they need to thrive as farmers in San Diego County. This goal will be achieved with a three-pronged approach that aligns with the three main goals of the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program and the Justice 40 Criteria. The project will work directly with public municipal agricultural land owners to formulate leasing, purchasing, and ownership transfer programs to underserved farming communities with favorable terms based on the community and climate co-benefits. The project will couple the public land access strategy with two key actions: capital access and business viability/ market access, co-designing services alongside producers.

 

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe - Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Project

Project Lead Applicant: Lower Brule Sioux Tribe

Project Geographic Area: South Dakota

Target Audience: The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and its tribal members

Project Description: This project will restore and increase tribal ownership of lands within the Lower Brule Indian Reservation thereby increasing access to land for tribal members. This project will also provide technical assistance and outreach to tribal producers, landowners, and community members on land succession, estate planning, agricultural business planning and other related topics.

 

Modifying and Implementing Tribal Land Enterprise Models for Increasing Access to Agricultural Land by Native Producers

Project Lead Applicant: Indian Land Tenure Foundation

Project Geographic Area: OR

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The first goal of the project is to examine and modify as needed the highly successful Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Tribal Land Enterprise operation for consolidating land titles, expediting land transfers and increasing land control and use by tribal members for farming and ranching on the Umatilla Indian Reservation of Oregon. The second goal of the project is to use the Umatilla model to demonstrate and expand the land enterprise model to at least three other Columbia River Basin reservations. Ultimately, there should be a dramatic increase in the number of native owned and operated agricultural enterprises throughout the region.

 

Moving Farmers from Surviving to Thriving in Miami-Dade County

Project Lead Applicant: Urban Oasis Project, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: FL

Target Audience: BIPOC, LGBTQ+

Project Description: The goal of this project is to increase access to land and capital for underserved farmers in the Miami-Dade County area by creating an agricultural center that provides long term land lease opportunities, shared infrastructure, and business and agricultural training.

 

National Native American Land, Capital, and Market Access Program

Project Lead Applicant: Intertribal Agriculture Council Inc.

Project Geographic Area: National

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) will lead a national land, capital, and market access campaign for the direct benefit of Native American producers across the United States. The National Native American Land, Capital, and Market Access Program will support American Indian producers to begin or expand food production on land that is owned or leased by them. This support will be provided to producers through business and production planning, land identification, loan procurement, and market readiness for the longevity and viability of their food businesses. Three goals of the project are 1) Identify Needs & Deliver Producer Readiness Training, 2) Leverage Capital for Food Production Land Leases & Purchases, 3) Close the Loop with Ready-for-Market Support Services

 

New Jersey Equitable Foodshed and Cooperative Markets Program

Project Lead Applicant: Foodshed Alliance A NJ Nonprofit Corporation

Project Geographic Area: NJ

Target Audience: Black, Hispanic, Latino, Spanish Origin

Project Description: The “New Jersey Equitable Foodshed and Cooperative Markets Program” is an initiative to help underserved farmers access land and product distribution channels, especially in urban markets lacking healthy local food. The initiative will provide underserved farmers access to affordable, long-term leases on preserved farmland, sales of products through an established food hub system, and technical assistance to improve understanding of and equitable participation in USDA programs among historically underserved ag operators.

 

NJ Wildlife Management Area Land Access, a collaboration state & regional partners supporting historically underserved producers to grow organic grain with land, growing market & capital assistance

Project Lead Applicant: Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey

Project Geographic Area: New Jersey

Target Audience: Black, Hispanic, Latino or Spanish, Asian

Project Description: This project is an innovative demonstration pilot.  It aims to transition 500 acres of New Jersey State Wildlife Management Area land that is currently in conventional agricultural production to organic practices that would achieve conservation benefits (improved soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat) and demonstrate farming profitability of organic grain while providing land access opportunity to historically underserved producers in the State of New Jersey.  The project includes comprehensive technical assistance in the areas of market access and crop production to support success.

 

On Solid Ground: Enabling a New Generation to Access Land and Thrive in Agriculture

Project Lead Applicant: American Farmland Trust

Project Geographic Area: National

Target Audience: BIPOC, LBGTQ+, Veterans

Project Description: On Solid Ground’s overarching goal is to increase access to land, capital, and markets and improve the successful participation of underserved producers across the nation in USDA programs and services. For this application, underserved farmers and ranchers include socially disadvantaged, limited resource, LGBTQ+, and veteran farmers, as well as farms that are small and mid-sized, serve local and regional markets, and/or are in impoverished areas. While this project will work to support this broader group, specific attention in its design and key partnerships has been made to address disparities for BIPOC producers based on geographic concentration.

 

Painted Desert Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program for Native American and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers in Arizona

Project Lead Applicant: Southwest Indian Agricultural Association, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: AZ

Target Audience: Native American and Veteran farmers/ranchers

Project Description: The Overarching Goal of the proposed Painted Desert Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program for Native American and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers in Arizona is to work closely with USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) to develop and deliver wraparound outreach and technical assistance for Native American and Veteran farmers and ranchers in Arizona to increase their access to land, capital, and markets. This program will support underserved producers including those that are beginning, live in high poverty areas, have limited resources, or are on the edge of viability with the goal of improving access to land, capital, and markets through equitable participation in USDA programs and services.

 

Pine Creek Ranch Land and Water Conservation Project

Project Lead Applicant: NDN Collective, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: NV-Nevada

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: NDN Collective's unique organizational ecosystem, integrated capital perspective, and holistic approach to problem-solving are focused on building the collective power of Indigenous Peoples, communities, and Nations in North America by investing in and supporting the empowerment of its people. This powerful work will continue through the proposed Pine Creek Ranch Land and Water Conservation Project that will take place at Pine Creek Ranch, located in southern central Nevada. The process to bring this project to fruition will first focus on using awarded funds from this opportunity to help develop Pine Creek Ranch from its dilapidated state to a higher operational success level. Through a combination of unique modernization processes that involve both innovative and traditional modes of agriculture, we can further ensure the longevity of Pine Creek Ranch as an Indigenous-led ranching operation willing to adapt to contemporary standards.

 

Reclaiming the Heritage of Farming for the Underserved: A Regional Agricultural Partnership to Access Land, Capital, Markets, and Education

Project Lead Applicant: Kansas Black Farmers Association Inc.

Project Geographic Area: Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Missouri

Target Audience: BIPOC farmers and ranchers

Project Description: The primary goal of the program will be to address capital, market, and land access concerns with the end goals of 1) connecting more underserved producers and would-be producers to technical services and to increase the number of BIPOC owned and operated agribusinesses in the identified region; 2) providing producers and would-be producers with tangible capital assistance, and resources including continuing education to build industry and market awareness, down-payment and/or credit assistance; and 3) building various forms of community partnerships such as cooperatives and equipment sharing programs and a robust and long-lasting multi-generational education and mentorship program that will continue long after year five of the project.

 

Regional Collaboration to Facilitate Equitable Access to Land, Capital, and Resources by Minority and Limited Resource Producers in the Deep South

Project Lead Applicant: Alabama A&M University

Project Geographic Area: MS TARGET COUNTIES: Clarke County, Greene County, Harrison County, Jasper County, Jacson County, Jones County, Kemper County, Lauderdale County, Lowndes County, Noxubee County, Winston County, Wayne County; TENN TARGET COUNTIES: Bedford County, Cannon County, Coffee County, Crockett County, Hardeman County, Hardin County, Haywood County, Lauderdale County, Madison County, Shelby County, Warren County, Wayne County; AL TARGET COUNTIES: Barbour County, Butler County, Dallas County, Hale County, Greene County, Lee County, Perry County, Pickens County, Sumter County, Choctaw County, Russell County, Wilcox County

Target Audience: Farmers of color

Project Description: Through aggressive delivery of technical assistance; this regional project will grow the number of farmers of color in the region by at least 25% (6,875 producers) – increasing from the current 27,677 producers (2017 Census of Agriculture) to 34,552 producers by 2027 – reflecting a combination of factors including increased producer access to land and capital, reduced land loss, and increased land retention and land ownership facilitated by this project’s education and technical assistance

 

Regional Implementation of Veteran and Small Farm Incubator Clusters in Selected Southern States: A Pre-Cooperative and Producer Marketing Organization Model Approach with Veterans and Small Farmers

Project Lead Applicant: North South Institute, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: State of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina.

Target Audience: Small Farmers, Veterans, Women

Project Description: The long-term goal of this project over five (5) years, is to develop and implement Seven (7) Socially Disadvantaged Small Farm and Veteran Incubator Clusters using Agricultural Group/Pre-Cooperative and Producer Marketing Organization Models. This project targets Small Farmers, Veterans and Women Tenant producers in Florida (5 Clusters), southeast Alabama-southwest Georgia (1 Cluster), and Gullah Geechee Corridor (1 Cluster). These Clusters will demonstrate how to mitigate barriers in accessing land, capital, markets, labor, digital literacy and resolve Heirs Property issues. These producers (350 - 420) will be on 300- 500 acres of land with four integrated groups enterprises; to include: Program Food Crops, Specialty Crops, Ornamental Horticulture Crops, Livestock, and Honeybee.

 

St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective

Project Lead Applicant: Heru Urban Farming And Garden

Project Geographic Area: MO, IL

Target Audience: Black, Latinx, Asian, Multi-Racial

Project Description: The overarching goal of the St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective, in keeping with the purpose of the USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program, is to mobilize, empower and sustain the energy, assets, and resources of a diverse, skilled collective of urban farmers and producers to address core barriers in locally sourced production due to lack of access to technical assistance, economies of scale, and training in agricultural best practices, and relevant, effective outreach and marketing. The St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective intends to strengthen, build, document and archive the body of local and regional knowledge and skill sharing; increase reciprocity/mutual benefit in food distribution; develop and implement fair wage farming/food production employment opportunities in order to improve self-sufficiency among disadvantaged households, curate plans for economies of scale through cooperative land ownership and or resource sharing; and promote a focus on ecological sustainability, demonstrated through environmental stewardship practices.

 

Texas Victory Farms

Project Lead Applicant: H.O.P.E For Small Farm Sustainability

Project Geographic Area: TX

Target Audience: BIPOC farmers, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Project Description: Price is one of the largest barriers for new farmers or any persons looking to start farming in the US. The Victory Farms project addresses barriers affecting beginning (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) BIPOC farmers, including refugees and asylum seekers.  After partaking in peer-to-peer training, participants in the program will have the opportunity to practice farming through HOPE’s apprenticeship program, which allocates a 20’ x 20’ starter plot to farmers and provides specialized, hands-on training and mentorship.  Farmers will receive larger plots once they begin scaling up production. Participants will have access to this land at no cost for up to three years, during which they can gain the education, experience, income, management skills, and brand awareness they will need to qualify for FSA loans and set up profitable long-term agribusinesses.

 

The CLIMB Project: Creating Land, Income, and Market Breakthroughs for Southeast Asian Farmers in Fresno County

Project Lead Applicant: Asian Business Institute and Resource Center

Project Geographic Area: Fresno County, CA

Target Audience: Southeast Asian Farmers

Project Description: The Asian Business Institute and Resource Center’s “The CLIMB Project: Creating Land, Income, and Market Breakthroughs for Southeast Asian Farmers in Fresno County” is a grassroots effort to combat concerns with and, thus, increase access to capital, land, and markets among 80 historically underserved, socially disadvantaged, Southeast Asian (SEA) farmers (e.g., the Khmer, Hmong, Lao, Mien, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.…) in Fresno County, California.  "The CLIMB Project” includes the following five main activities: 1. Networking Events, 2. Farmers Market Events, 3. Down Payment Assistance Program, 4. Business Education Workshops, and 5. USDA Workshops.

 

The Detroit Farmer Collective: Envisioning a Black and Brown-led Grower Cooperative

Project Lead Applicant: Workin Rootz

Project Geographic Area: MI

Target Audience: Primarily Black and Brown Urban Farmers

Project Description: This proposal centers on increasing land and capacity at five urban farms/community market gardens in Detroit: 1)Workin’ Roots Farm, 2) Love n’ Labor, 3)Foster Patch Community Garden, 4) Love Earth Herbal, and 5) Urban Bush Sistahs. These farms will also serve as resource hubs by sharing infrastructure (tiller, lawn tractor, wash and pack, cooler storage, etc) with other urban farmers and gardeners in their prospective neighborhoods. Additional farmers will have increased access to land, capital, and markets through a Grower Mini-Grant Program and “Back of the House” Services (technical assistance) provided by the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund.

 

The George Washington Carver Project for Equity and Access

Project Lead Applicant: Arthur Morgan Institute DBA The Agraria Center

Project Geographic Area: Dayton/Montgomery County, Springfield/Clark County, Yellow Springs/Greene County, Wilmington/Clinton County,

Target Audience: BIPOC, underserved and regenerative farmers

Project Description: This project aims to contribute to improved livelihoods for BIPOC, underserved and regenerative farmers in the project area. It will do so by: 1. Enhancing access to farmland, through a map and database of available land, new farmer financing through the Agrarian Futures Fund, and training on overcoming zoning and legal challenges, 2. Improving connections to markets, through training in market-ready practices, assessments of institutional buyers’ needs, and development of farmer cooperatives, and 3. Strengthening connections among farmers, through farmer incubators, workshops and farmer support networks

 

The New Century Farm: Creating a Viable Route to Land, Markets and Capital for Beginning and Underserved Farmers in Easter IA at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm

Project Lead Applicant: Iowa Valley RC&D

Project Geographic Area: IA

Target Audience: BIPOC Beginning Farmers

Project Description: Iowa Valley RC&D, in collaboration with Feed Iowa First, will expand land and market access to beginning and underserved farmers at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm and Equitable Land Access Program located in Eastern Iowa. This project will establish The New Century Farm Fellowship Program, a robust farmer training program, connect beginning and underserved farmers to new markets and capital resources, expand land access opportunities and build new partnerships between the Iowa Farmer Training Program Community of Practice and USDA.

 

The New Golden Triangle: A Bold Vision to Advance the Tribal Agriculture Economy in the Upper Great Plains

Project Lead Applicant: Piikanii Lodge Health Institute

Project Geographic Area: MT, SD, ND, MN

Target Audience: Tribal Farmers

Project Description: The overarching aim of this project is to enable the flow of resources to catalyze the Upper Great Plains Tribes’ agricultural communities to shift away from current states of emergency (due to slow but crushing changes in the social, economic and ecological landscape) and towards new sustainable pathways of hope, innovation, and prosperity. This can be achieved through better access to resources including education, innovative technologies, and collaborative partnerships. Upper Great Plains Tribes control vast amounts of intact, productive land waiting to be leveraged sustainably towards the cause of creating thriving food economies.

 

TLA Beginning Rancher Prosperity Project

Project Lead Applicant: Tallgrass Legacy Alliance, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: KS

Target Audience: Beginning and underserved ranchers

Project Description: The TLA Beginning Rancher Prosperity Project will address the critical barrier of land access by enrolling beginning ranchers in the Land Link program from AgKansitions at Kansas State University.  After the connection is made, TLA will assess the level of down payment assistance from the Beginning Rancher Prosperity Project needed to make the expansion cash flow.  In order to facilitate financial success, the project will also help beginning ranchers form profitable business plans.  TLA will continue to target gaps in market access through ranch tours in 2023 through 2027 at various locations in eastern Kansas. Through these tours TLA will introduce ranchers to various operations and their individual markets and facilitate connections that will allow ranchers to explore innovative means to market their livestock.

 

Tribal and Indigenous Communities Land Return and Access Project

Project Lead Applicant: Trust For Public Land

Project Geographic Area: National

Target Audience: Tribal and Indigenous Communities

Project Description: Trust for Public Land, in partnership with Indigenous consultants and partners, will work with tribes and other Indigenous organizations across the country to provide technical assistance and support to advance the acquisition and management of agricultural and forestland in ancestral and ceded territory for permanent ownership, production of forest and agricultural products, and forest restoration.

 

Walnut and Daisy Community Micro-Farm

Project Lead Applicant: Thrive Santa Ana, Inc.

Project Geographic Area: CA

Target Audience: Black, Latinx

Project Description: THRIVE’s mission is to build community wealth by holding land in trust and to drive development that ensures access to healthy, affordable neighborhoods. Resident leadership, and resident-led development in particular, are THRIVE’s key means to achieve greater land access for low-income residents of color for farming, affordable housing, open space, job, and business opportunities. The Walnut and Daisy Micro-Farm will provide land for local farmers to expand their markets by growing healthy food for the local community, and partnering with local worker cooperatives to provide value-added products, and educational opportunities.

 

Working Lands of Central Appalachia

Project Lead Applicant: West Virginia University

Project Geographic Area: WV, PA, MD, VA, NC

Target Audience: Underserved Veteran, Limited resource, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers

Project Description: The overall goal of this regional cooperative project is to increase access to land, markets, and capital in the Central Appalachian region by addressing identified land, capital, and market access concerns of the target audience, which includes underserved Veteran, limited resource, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers.

Specific project objectives are to: 1) Increase the total acreage available for agricultural production to the target audience through public and private land audit, leases and farmland ownership opportunities, 2) Create a Farm Link program in West Virginia (WV), an area in Central Appalachia currently without this program, to increase knowledge and use of available United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that support land, capital, and market access across the region, and 3) develop an anchor collaborative of universities and health care systems to increase market and capital access across Central Appalachia.