Farm Credit Awards $100,000 to Develop and Promote Northeast Agriculture

ENFIELD, Conn. — The Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Program, a joint effort of Farm Credit East and CoBank, recently provided $100,000 in grant funding to 22 organizations to assist their efforts to support young and beginning farmer initiatives, encourage youth leadership development, promote diversity equity and inclusion, and advance northeast agriculture, forestry and commercial fishing. Submissions for the next round of grant funding are due by August 1.

In the latest round of grants, recipients implementing projects to support young and beginning farmer initiatives, youth leadership development, and educational opportunities include: Cornell University Dairy Fellows; Intervale Center; Maine School Garden Network; Maine TREE Foundation; New England Junior Holstein Association; New Hampshire and Vermont Holstein Associations; North East Youth Sheep Show; PRO-Dairy Cornell Animal Science Department; the Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGrow program; Vermont Youth Conservation Corps; Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments (VINES); and Eastern States Exposition FFA Star Program.

Other programs focused on promoting diversity and inclusion and advancing northeast agriculture, forestry and commercial fishing include: America’s Grow-a-Row; Cornell Small Farms Program-Futuro en Ag Project; Foodshed Alliance; Hand in Hand Mano en Mano; the Organization for Refugee and Immigration Success; and Red Hook Initiative’s Red Hook Farms project. 

The New York Animal Agriculture Coalition received funding for its dairy birthing center at the New York State Fair to promote a greater understanding of animal agriculture by the nonfarm public. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont will use grant funds to publish economic analysis on the organic dairy and fishing industries, and Maine Farmland Trust will fund a project to support farmers who are dealing with PFAS contamination on their farms.

The Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Program was created in 1996 to support projects that promote and enhance the region’s agricultural community. Since inception, the program has provided more than $3.1 million in grant funding to 1,066 projects. Submissions for the next round of grant funding are due by August 1, 2023. Visit FarmCreditEast.com/AgEnhancement to learn more.

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