Micro-Grants: USDA Announces Funding Available for Food Security Program

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced on Tuesday there will be $5.3 million in funding for the Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (MGFSP). The MGFSP was authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill and is designed support communities that have significant levels of food insecurity and import significant quantities of food.

Grants are awarded non-competitively to eligible states and territories including agricultural agencies or departments in Alaska, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the United States Virgin Islands. Eligible applicants competitively distribute sub-awards to those entities that are eligible to increase the quantity and quality of locally grown food through small-scale gardening, herding and livestock operations.

AMS encourages applications that serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged producers, veteran producers, and/or underserved communities. For grants intending to serve these audiences, applicants should engage and involve those beneficiaries when developing projects and applications.

Applications must be submitted electronically through www.grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, May 24, 2021.

For more information about grant eligibility, visit the MGFSP webpage or contact IPPGrants@usda.gov.