There is significant funding flowing to states from federal agencies to support small farmers and ranchers, rural communities, and the environment. Don’t miss out on sharing these resources with your constituents.
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Report anticompetitiveness in farming and ranching:
Farmers and ranchers now can anonymously report potentially unfair and anticompetitive practices in the livestock and poultry sectors using the online tool farmerfairness.gov from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Justice (DOJ). Complaints or tips will go through a preliminary review by USDA Packers and Stockyards Division staff and Department of Justice staff. If a complaint raises sufficient concern under the Packers and Stockyards Act or antitrust laws, it will be selected for further investigation by the appropriate agency.
For Producers Engaging in Climate Smart Agriculture:
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $1 billion in their Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program which will finance pilot projects that create market opportunities for U.S. agricultural and forestry products that use climate-smart practices and include innovative, cost-effective ways to measure and verify greenhouse gas benefits. Funding will be provided to partners through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation for pilot projects to provide incentives to producers and landowners to: implement climate-smart production practices, activities, and systems on working lands, measure/quantify, monitor and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits associated with those practices, and develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities. Funding will be provided in two funding pools, and applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov April 8, 2022, for the first funding pool (proposals from $5 million to $100 million), and May 27, 2022, for the second funding pool (proposals from $250,000 to $4,999,999).
For Tribal Nation Producers:
The Intertribal Agriculture Council is seeking input from Tribal Nation Producers and Tribal Leaders to quantify the present state of equity in the food, agriculture, and lending systems in Indian country. Survey respondents will be entered into a raffle for 3 Travel Scholarships to attend the 2022 IAC Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV. To enter, you simply have to complete the survey and indicate your name and contact information at the end of the survey. FYI: This survey is completely anonymous and your contact information will not be attached to any of your survey answers.
Tribal Government Webinar – Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) – Thursday February 17, 2 p.m. ET. The Intertribal Agriculture Council and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) are hosting a webinar to learn more about LFPA, which provides $400 million in non-competitive agreements to Tribes and states to support local food purchasing and distribution. Register at: www.indianag.org/events.
USDA is currently accepting grants for its Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program to establish an Extension presence and support Extension outreach on federally recognized Indian Reservations and tribal jurisdictions of federally-Recognized Tribes. Application deadline: February 15, 2022
The USDA’s Alaska Native-Service and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Education Competitive Grants Program is accepting applications until April 4, 2022. The purpose of this program is to promote and strengthen the ability of Alaska Native-Serving Institutions and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions to carry out education, applied research, and related community development programs. Priority will be given to those projects that enhance educational equity for underrepresented students; strengthen institutional educational capacities; prepare students for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resource systems of the United States; and maximize the development and use of resources to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs.
For Rural Development:
ON TWITTER: The National Agricultural Statistics Service is holding a twitter discussion on the 2021 Hemp Acreage and Production Survey results on February 17, 4 p.m. ET. Join @usda_nass on Twitter using #Stat Chat to ask NASS’s Lance Honig about the National Hemp Report. You can also tweet questions in advance to @usda_nass.
The USDA is accepting grant applications for their Rural eConnectivity Program – until February 22, 2022 The Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect) Program provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas.