The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funds available to help promote value-added agriculture and is looking for new ideas from farmers and ranchers. The money is available through the Value-Added Producer Grant Program and USDA has $18 million in funds. Ray Hansen, Program Manager for the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Value Added Agriculture Program, talks about what is considered value-added agriculture:
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Hansen talks about how the funding program works:
There are a couple of places to go to apply for the funds:
Hansen says there a couple types of grants available:
Beginning farmers are encouraged to apply, as are farmers coming from socially or economically-disadvantaged regions. Farmers and ranchers have until January 31, 2018, to apply for funding. For more information, go to the Ag Marketing Resource Center website at A G M R C dot org.