Monsanto Fund Invites Farmers to Nominate School Districts for America's Farmers Grow Rural Education Grant Program

Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company, has announced the launch of its America's Farmers Grow Rural Education program.

The grant program will provide grants in over twelve hundred counties across thirty-nine states to help strengthen local communities and education systems, especially in the areas of science and/or math. Grants will be awarded based on merit, need, and community support.

The program invites farmers to nominate a public school district in their community to compete for a grant. Administrators from nominated school districts can then submit an application for either a $10,000 or $25,000 grant to support a science and/or math education program.

School districts that apply for a $10,000 grant will compete against other school districts located in a USDA-appointed Crop Reporting District; CRDs with fewer than five eligible school districts will compete against each other for a single grant. A school district that applies for a $25,000 grant will compete against schools located in its state or designated region. The Monsanto Fund will award a hundred and ninety-nine grants through the program in 2012: a hundred and seventy-seven $10,000 grants and twenty-two grants of $25,000. Overall, the fund will donate more than $2.3 million to school districts through the program.

To be eligible to submit a nomination, farmers must be at least 21 years old and actively engaged in farming a minimum of two hundred and fifty acres of corn, soybeans, and/or cotton, and/or forty acres of open field vegetables, or at least ten acres of vegetables grown in protected culture; and must reside in eligible counties where a minimum of thirty thousand acres of corn and/or soybeans and/or cotton and/or vegetables are planted each year.

Visit the America's Farmers Grow Rural Education Web site for the complete list of eligible states and regions, program guidelines, and nomination procedures.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Pennsylvania Eligible Counties:
CRD 10: Crawford, Erie, Mercer
CRD 20: Lycoming
CRD 40: Butler, Indiana
CRD 50: Blair, Centre, Columbia, Dauphin, Northumberland, Perry
CRD 60: Lehigh, Northampton, Schuykill 
CRD 70: Somerset, Westmoreland
CRD 80: Adams, Bedford, Cumberland, Franklin, York
CRD 90: Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon

Land Conservation Assistance Grants

Application Period for the Agricultural Land Conservation Assistance Grant Program

[41 Pa.B. 6382]
[Saturday, December 3, 2011]

 An application period for grants under the Agricultural Land Conservation Assistance Grant Program (program) administered by the Department of Agriculture (Department) has started. The program is authorized by sections 7.1 and 7.3 of the act of June 18, 1982 (P. L. 549, No. 159) (3 P. S. §§ 1207.1 and 1207.3). In summary, the program allows the Department to award grants to certain counties for projects that will establish or improve agricultural conservation easement purchase programs. Regulations for the program are in 7 Pa. Code Chapter 138h (relating to Agricultural Land Conservation Assistance Grant Program). These regulations can be viewed and downloaded at www.pacode.com.

 Applications for the program will be accepted by the Department beginning January 2, 2012, for a 45-day period ending at 4 p.m. on February 16, 2012. Information and grant application forms may be obtained from April Orwig, Bureau of Farmland Preservation, Department of Agriculture, 2301 North Cameron Street, Room 402, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.

GEORGE D. GREIG, 
Secretary

Direct Farm Sales grants

An application period for grants under the Direct Farm Sales Grant Program (Program) administered by the Department of Agriculture (Department), Bureau of Food Distribution (Bureau). For the 2012 Project Year, the application period is November 7, 2011, to December 19, 2011. Information about the Program and application forms can be accessed at the Department's web site at www.agriculture.state.pa.us under the Bureau. Application forms are also available by contacting Sandy Hopple, (800) 468-2433.

 In summary, the Program provides funds to Commonwealth-based businesses that manage or operate farm stands or farmers' markets, nonprofit organizations, farmers and local governments for projects intended to promote new or existing farmers' markets. Projects must pertain to specialty crops. The maximum grant amount per farm stand or farmers' market location shall be $7,500 and applicants shall be expected to provide 25% of the approved grant amount in matching funds or in-kinds goods or services. The anticipated date for the award of grants and notice thereof is expected to be on or before February 1, 2012. The application, work plan and budget should reflect March 1, 2012, as the project start date and the project completion date will be September 30, 2012.

 Applications for the Program will be accepted by the Department beginning Monday, November 7, 2011, and continue through Monday, December 19, 2011. Applications to be hand-delivered must be received by 4 p.m. in the Bureau on Monday, December 19, 2011, the closing date. Applications which are mailed must be postmarked no later than Monday, December 19, 2011, and received no later than December 23, 2011.

 Completed applications should be addressed to or delivered to Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Distribution, Direct Farm Sales Grant Program, 2301 North Cameron Street, Room 401, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.

Agricultural Career and Employment Grants Program (ACE)

Funding Opportunity Number:	USDA2011ACE01
Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
Posted Date:	Oct 20, 2011
Creation Date:	Oct 20, 2011
Original Closing Date for Applications:	Nov 15, 2011
Current Closing Date for Applications:	Nov 15, 2011
Archive Date:	Dec 15, 2011
Funding Instrument Type:	Grant
Category of Funding Activity:	Agriculture Employment, Labor and Training
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards:	8
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$4,000,000
Award Ceiling:	$500,000
Award Floor:	$0
CFDA Number(s):	10.465  --  Farmworker Training Grant Program
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	No

Eligible Applicants

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
For profit organizations other than small businesses
Small businesses
 

Additional Information on Eligibility:

Entities eligible for awards are non-profit organizations or a consortium of entities comprised of a non-profit organization and one or more of the following: agribusinesses, State and local governments, agricultural labor organizations, farmer or rancher cooperatives, and community-based organizations with the capacity to train farmworkers. The criteria by which an entity's capacity to train farmworkers will be evaluated, at a minimum, by the following items: 1) an understanding of the issues facing hired farmworkers and conditions under which they work; 2) familiarity with the agricultural industry in the geographic area to be served, including agricultural labor needs and existing services for farmworkers; and 3) the capacity to effectively administer a program of services and benefits authorized by the grants program. 

Agency Name

DM-Office of Advocacy and Outreach

Description

The ACE grants program is intended to improve the supply of skilled agricultural workers and bring greater stability to the workforce in this sector. This stability will be realized through services specifically designed to assist farmworkers in securing, retaining, upgrading or returning from agricultural jobs. Such services include the following: • agricultural labor skills development; • the provision of agricultural labor market information; • transportation; • short-term housing while in transit to an agricultural worksite; • workplace literacy and assistance with English as a second language; • health and safety instruction, including ways of safeguarding the food supply of the United States; and • other such services the Secretary deems appropriate. 

PA First Industries Program passes

State Senator Elder Vogel, Jr. announced today that Senate Bill 1007, legislation he authored to extend the First Industries Program, passed the House of Representatives today by a vote of 198-0. This legislation had previously passed the Senate 50-0 on June 23, 2011.

The First Industries Program backs low cost loans assisting with the financing of an economic development project primarily related to agriculture and tourism. This legislation will continue to allow a farm credit institution, a commercial lending institution, or a community development financial institution to participate in the First Industries Program, and enable the Commonwealth Financing Authority to continue providing loan guarantees of 51% to 90% of the loan principal to finance an agricultural project. SB 1007 keeps the minimum amount of private investment at the $500,000 threshold, and extends the sunset provisions of the Commonwealth's First Industries Program from June 30, 2011 until July 15, 2015. The governor is expected to sign the bill quickly to avoid any disruption in the program.

"The First Industries Program helps agriculture grow and compete in a difficult economic environment. I'm glad the Legislature recognized the importance of this program and acted swiftly before the deadline," Vogel said.

Value-Added Producer grant

The synopsis for this grant opportunity is detailed below, following this paragraph. This synopsis contains all of the updates to this document that have been posted as of 08/12/2011 . If updates have been made to the opportunity synopsis, update information is provided below the synopsis.

If you would like to receive notifications of changes to the grant opportunity click send me change notification emails . The only thing you need to provide for this service is your email address. No other information is requested.

Any inconsistency between the original printed document and the disk or electronic document shall be resolved by giving precedence to the printed document.

Document Type:	Grants Notice
Funding Opportunity Number:	RDBCP-11-02-VAPG
Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
Posted Date:	Aug 12, 2011
Creation Date:	Aug 12, 2011
Original Closing Date for Applications:	Aug 29, 2011 Applications may be submitted either on paper or electronically by August 29, 2011. Late applications are not eligible for FY 2011 grant funding.
Current Closing Date for Applications:	Aug 29, 2011 Applications may be submitted either on paper or electronically by August 29, 2011. Late applications are not eligible for FY 2011 grant funding.
Archive Date:	Sep 28, 2011
Funding Instrument Type:	Grant
Category of Funding Activity:	Agriculture Business and Commerce
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards:	250
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$37,000,000
Award Ceiling:	$300,000
Award Floor:
CFDA Number(s):	10.352 -- Value-Added Producer Grants
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	Yes

Eligible Applicants

Individuals
Small businesses

Additional Information on Eligibility:

Eligible applicants are:Independent Producers; Farmer or Rancher Cooperatives; Agricultural Producer Group; and Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Ventures

Agency Name

Business and Cooperative Programs

Description

The primary objective of this grant program is to help Independent Producers of Agricultural Commodities, Agriculture Producer Groups, Farmer and Rancher Cooperatives, and Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Ventures develop strategies to create marketing opportunities and to help develop Business Plans for viable marketing opportunities regarding production of bio-based products from agricultural commodities.

Link to Full Announcement

Program Information

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: Food Safety

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) flagship competitive grant program and was established under section 7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill). AFRI supports work in six priority areas: plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; renewable energy, natural resources, and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities. In FY 2011, AFRI is soliciting applications through seven Requests for Applications (RFA). One RFA calls for research projects addressing the above six priority areas. Additional RFAs further address AFRI priority areas in five societal challenge areas. The five challenge area RFAs are: Childhood Obesity Prevention; Climate Change; Food Safety; Global Food Security; and Sustainable Bioenergy. These RFAs will support research, education, and extension to achieve significant, measurable outcomes. NIFA will also release a single, separate NIFA Fellowships Grant Program RFA to fund pre- and postdoctoral fellowship grants in the Spring of 2011. This RFA addresses Food Safety.

Link to Full Announcement

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: Food Safety