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Grants, Cost Shares and Loans

Grants

 Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)

Southern SARE  is a competitive grants program funded by USDA and EPA to promote research and education about sustainable agriculture. Calls for proposals are issued each year to start the competitive process.

Grant Programs Available:
•    Research and Education Grants
•    Producer Grants
•    Graduate Student Grants
•    Sustainable Community Grants
•    Professional Development Grants
•    On-farm Research Grants

Farm Bill Programs and Grants

Click here  for a link to charts for a quick-guide to 2008 Farm Bill Programs and Grants, including relevant links and deadlines.  National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition updates this regularly as new Requests for Applications (RFAs) are released.

Organic Farming Research Foundation

The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) funds research on organic farming and food systems and the dissemination of these research results to the greater agricultural community.  The average research grant awarded in OFRF's last funding cycle was $12,232 for non-fruit projects and $17,184 for fruit projects. OFRF will not fund a project for more than $15,000 per year except for fruit grants, for which the maximum grant size is $20,000 per year.  

 The grant is open to any agricultural production, social, economic, or policy-related topic of concern to organic farmers and/or ranchers. OFRF supports research that is relevant to and takes place in certified organic systems.  OFRF has identified the following as areas of particular interest:
•    Organic livestock systems;
•    Economic constraints and opportunities relevant to the viability of small- and medium-scale organic farms and ranches;
•    Projects that investigate the interactions between components of organic systems and that take a systems-management (rather than an input-substitution) approach to solving production problems.

Cost Share Programs

 Organic Certification Cost Share Program

Producers are eligible for as much as 75 percent of the cost (up to $750) through the Georgia Department of Agriculture under the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program.  Click here for the cost share reimbursement form.  If you are interested, contact Trey Joyner, Organic Program Manager for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, by e-mail at leon.joyner@agr.georgia.gov or by phone at 404-463-1081.

 Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has worked with Georgia landowners to protect the state's natural resources for more than 65 years. We provide technical assistance on natural resources issues and assist individuals, groups, communities, and counties implement soil and water conservation practices to protect the 34 million acres of privately owned land in Georgia.

NRCS has cost share programs that provide money and technical assistance for irrigation, wells, rotational grazing cross-fencing, cover cropping and much more.  

Link to Programs
Link to find NRCS Office near you

Loans

Below are a list of banks, agencies and nonprofits offering loans to farmers and agricultural enterprises:

AgGeorgia Farm Credit

AgSouth Farm Credit

Farm Services Agency

FSA announced several revisions in to its program handbook in 2012 to increase flexibility and broaden the scope of “farm management experience” a borrower is required to have before being eligible for a federal loan.  Under the old language, a borrower needed to have three years of demonstrated “managerial ability” to qualify for a direct or guaranteed loan from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, which included education, on-farm training, and farm experience requirements.  The new language specifies that the applicant may satisfy the managerial ability requirement with any combination of education, on-the-job training and farm experience, or by meeting just 1 of these criteria. 

Georgia Green Loans

Up to $50,000 loans from a Georgia based microfinance nonprofit organization. 

Micoloans to farmers as well as low interest gap financing for implementing NRCS cost share contracts. 

Southwest Georgia Farm Credit

Your local bank