Renewing the Countryside and USDA

Twin Cities Urban Agriculture Micro-Grant Program

RTC urban agriculture with RTC logo

      

Renewing the Countryside is excited to work with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and other partners to enrich urban agriculture in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Our goal is to support the great work that people are already doing in urban food-growing spaces. As a part of this initiative, we are granting funding to Twin Cities urban farmers/gardeners during a second round of micro-grants.

To receive updates about the micro-grants and other RTC urban ag programs, complete this form!

View the recording or slides from our informational webinar held on Friday, 11/8 (12-1pm).

Applications will be open November 1, 2024 and will close December 16, 2024 at 11:59pm. We will be spending the winter reviewing applications and will notify applicants of results in early spring. 

Please browse the below sections for background information, application instructions, and additional supportive materials. 

Background Information

Application Instructions

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary

Additional Information

Background Information

The goal of this micro-grant program is to help urban farmers and gardeners expand their production ability, access land and markets, use conservation practices, and increase their resilience to the various risks of farming in urban settings. This initiative is guided by a community steering committee of urban agriculture advocates across the Twin Cities.

We, the Steering Committee responsible for facilitating these Twin Cities urban agriculture initiative micro-grants, gratefully acknowledge those who came before us, those who have cared for the land and the water, those who have been unjustly removed from this land, and those who have sought justice and equity. We acknowledge that these legacies, an inheritance of both oppressions and privileges, have shaped our food system in the Twin Cities metro area today. This legacy directly impacts who has access to land for food production, and for how long; who has access to the capacity and desire to take on the gamble of urban farming; and what support our community offers to its farmers, to list a few of the current day realities.

We acknowledge this complex inheritance in our work so that we may actively work to engage with these histories, reverse injustices, and strive not to perpetuate systemic inequities. While holding these realities, we intend to contribute to healing our food system and the people who support it.

 

Three urban agriculture initiative objectives

The three urban agriculture initiative objectives for the micro-grants as set forth by the Renewing the Countryside-based planning team, working in partnership with USDA, include:

  • Objective 1. Increase the numbers of producers who can access and utilize tools, resources, and technical assistance associated with growing food in an urban area by building capacity and cultural competence among urban-farmer-serving organizations, including USDA
  • Objective 2. Increase knowledge, awareness, and participation in FSA and USDA programs and services in the Twin Cities metro area
  • Objective 3. Assist farmers with expanding their farming operations, accessing land, and implementing climate-friendly practices that can mitigate their susceptibility to natural disasters in urban areas 

 

Micro-grant applicant types

The intended recipients of these micro-grants are people involved in growing food and other natural products in the Twin Cities Metro area.

Micro-grants are available for: 

  • Noncommercial farmers/gardeners growing for home consumption and/or sharing ($200-$7,500/micro-grant)
  • Commercial farmers/gardeners growing as an income source ($2,000-$7,500/micro-grant)
  • Organizations that support urban farmers/gardeners ($5,000-$40,000/micro-grant)

Micro-grants for organizations can be received multiple years in a row and are meant to help recipient organizations provide direct support to farmers/gardeners, for example, through education, technical assistance, or providing land/garden space. For all other applicant types, the micro-grants are one-time-only awards.

 

Grant eligibility criteria

  • Individual or collaborative groups of urban gardeners/farmers, or nonprofits and other organizations that serve/support urban farmers/gardeners
  • Farmers/gardeners living or farming/gardening in the 7-county metropolitan area (Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Scott, and Carver), or organizations that support farmers/gardeners in the 7-county metro area
  • Past recipients of this micro-grants program are not eligible to re-apply (noncommercial or commercial farmers/gardeners only - organizations that received an organizational subaward can be awarded a micro-grant multiple times)

 

Application Instructions

This application process is meant to be easily accessible. If you need help, RTC staff is available to answer your questions, help you complete the application, and provide translation services. For questions or assistance with your application, please contact us at: [email protected] or 507-218-0832

After completing your application, if you feel that it does not fully represent your initiative and how you plan to use these grant funds, please reach out to us. We would like to fully understand your project, especially if you feel that our application questions do not give you the opportunity to explain it well.

Submitting your application

 

Frequently Asked Questions

If my project is eligible for multiple grant programs, can I submit an application to more than one? 

Review the applicant types (in "Micro-grant applicant types" section of Background Information) to see which one most closely aligns with your project’s goals. If you’d like, you may submit an application to multiple grant programs, however, each project must have a separate application completed and submitted, and you may not submit multiple separate applications to the same grant program. 

Because this initiative aims to build capacity for as many urban farmers and gardeners as possible, it will be most worthwhile to apply for multiple programs if there are multiple quite different projects to be funded. If the goal is to apply for more funds than encouraged in one program, talk to the program staff about other plausible funding sources.

 

Why would I need a fiscal sponsor? How do I find a fiscal sponsor? (Needed for organizations only.) 

For an organization to receive a micro-grant through this program, it needs to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or to have a fiscal sponsor. If you are not a 501(c)(3) or do not have a fiscal sponsor, you will need to identify a fiscal sponsor partner organization.

By building relationships and partnering with a trusted and flexible fiscal sponsor, organizations may be able to access funding from a greater number of sources more easily, and may be more straightforwardly able to navigate application and record-keeping requirements. The amount charged by the fiscal sponsor generally falls between 5-10% of the funding received and a max of 10% per this grant program. If you would like assistance finding a fiscal sponsor, please contact [email protected]

 

Is my site considered part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area defined by the micro-grants program? 

Applicants must either live or farm/garden in the 7-County Twin Cities Metropolitan area (Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Scott, and Carver counties). Organizations must support farmers/gardeners in the 7-county metropolitan area. 

 

What are the selection criteria?

Application selection criteria: 

Project design and feasibility Attainable goals Goals likely to be reached with the described project capacity and funds.
Clear plan Project outlines clear timeline and steps to reach goals.
Realistic budget Item/service costs are within a reasonable range and in alignment with project goals.
Market plan [commercial farmer/gardener applicants only] Demonstrates awareness of market for product and experience with business planning (or intent to participate in business training).

Community benefit 		Commitment to urban agriculture The applicant demonstrates a sense of commitment to building or supporting urban agriculture in the Twin Cities.
Clear vision for community benefit Applicant describes a clear vision for how the project will benefit the community (at the household level and/or neighborhood level or beyond), for example, through food security, economic development, environmental stewardship, educational opportunities, and/or contribution to long-term sustainability of urban ag in the Twin Cities.
Program urban ag objectives Contribution to Objective 1, Objective 2, and/or Objective 3
[organization applicants only]		 Organization's funded activities will contribute to at least one of the program objectives (listed in background information).

If you are unsure about whether you meet these criteria, you are welcome to reach out to us to discuss how your initiative may already meet them. We recognize that each initiative/situation has a unique and dynamic set of intentions and circumstances that can positively contribute to our collective efforts.

 

What are the three RTC and USDA urban agriculture initiative objectives? 

  • Objective 1. Increase the numbers of producers who can access and utilize tools, resources, and technical assistance associated with growing food in an urban area by building capacity and cultural competence among urban-farmer-serving organizations, including USDA
  • Objective 2. Increase knowledge, awareness, and participation in FSA and USDA programs and services in the Twin Cities metro area
  • Objective 3. Assist farmers with expanding their farming operations, accessing land, and implementing climate-friendly practices that can mitigate their susceptibility to natural disasters in urban areas

 

What are other sources of support?

Some other funding sources and other resources include:

Funding Sources

Informational Resources/Guides

 

Why does the application start with an ancestral acknowledgement?

The historical and relational acknowledgments we begin with help our work intentionally engage with the many gifts, privileges, injustices, and traumas that our ancestry passes down to us. Today's farm programs have been developed from New Deal era politics that institutionalized certain inequalities and shaped agriculture in ways that have led to some social and environmental problems. To read more about how people have been working with the USDA to address these problems and improve farm programs for the past hundred years, see Jess Gilbert's 2015 book Planning Democracy: Agrarian Intellectuals and the Intended New Deal.

 

Will my project require an environmental review?

Your project will probably not be subject to an environmental review for activities involving educational/informational programming or obtaining goods or services. It also likely will not require environmental review if you do not plan to disturb the ground (by digging for example) deeper or more extensively than it has previously been disturbed. For activities that require a site review, please see the numbered list below. 

Microgrant Environmental Review Process:

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the implementing regulations in 40 CFR Parts 1500 – 1508, and FSA’s NEPA implementing Regulations in 7 CFR Part 799 for cooperative agreements entered under the FSA Urban and Innovative Agriculture Community-Based Organization Fund. After review at the programmatic level, USDA determined that, in general, cooperative agreements entered under Section 1001 of the Build Back Better Act, Food Systems Transformation Effort do not have the potential for significant impacts to the human environment. FSA has determined that the following categories of activities are categorically excluded from further review under the National Environmental Policy Act, per 7 CFR § 799.31:

  • Educational or informational (i.e., outreach) activities; and
  • Procurement actions for goods and services conducted in accordance with Executive Orders.


However, a site-specific review will be needed for activities funded through the cooperative agreement, or subsequent micro-grant programs, if any of the following conditions are true:

  1. Disturb ground to a level that has not been previously disturbed, remove any trees, remove any tree roots, or use mechanical means to remove damaged fencing or debris that will impact below the level of previous disturbance.
  2. Place a farm storage or other facility on a farm eligible for or listed on the National Register of Historic Places and would have a visual impact to the historic character of the farm.
  3. Modify, renovate, or remove a structure or building that is 50 years old or older.
  4. Involve an activity including new land clearing, impacts to any water body, wetland, floodplain, riparian buffer, threatened or endangered species, their critical habitat, or cultural resources that would otherwise require consultation.
  5. Result in any extraordinary circumstances in accordance with Handbook 1-EQ (Rev. 3) Par. 25.
  6. Change the existing land use or remove the land from agricultural use.
  7. Involve FSA actions or programs not specified in this P-850, not approved in that municipality, or for which an individual site-specific FSA-850 or environmental assessment is required.


For micro-grants, the grantee must satisfy any site-specific NEPA requirements identified by FSA prior to drawing down funds or incurring expenses related to the micro-grant. Once these conditions have been successfully completed, FSA will notify the grantee that the review is complete. At that time, the distribution and expenditure of micro-grant funds will be authorized. Before the NEPA process is completed, Federal regulations specify acceptable actions in 40 CFR § 1506.1.

 

How are you spreading awareness and sharing information about these micro-grants?

We are hosting this webpage with all the information about the micro-grants program, including application instructions and a link to an online application form. A link to the micro-grants webpage will be broadcast widely through social media postings, media releases, email, on RTC’s homepage, and through Morning Ag Clips.

Emails will go to a list of several hundred people representing multiple agencies and organizations across the Twin Cities involved in urban agriculture and/or led by people of color, as well as neighborhood associations. Emails will also be sent through relevant list-servs, including the “sustag” list hosted by the University of Minnesota, and we will distribute fliers at local events and urban ag field days.

Finally, the Urban Ag Steering Committee, which is guiding this microgrants program, will be encouraged to disseminate the announcement through their respective networks, ensuring that the culturally diverse communities the steering committee members represent will be informed about the microgrants opportunity.

If you know about any folks or organizations that we should add to our outreach plan, please contact us at [email protected]. Also, please share the micro-grants information with your networks! 

 

Glossary

Agriculture - Agriculture means land and associated structures used for the purposes of growing produce, including fruits, vegetables, trees, plants, flowers and other similar crops, and raising animals–like chickens and bees–for food and other products. 

 

Ancestral Acknowledgement - Many communities position themselves and their activities in relation to their lineage: those who have come before us, and whose inheritance influences us, for better and for worse. Given the rich and complex and often troubled history of agriculture, especially in relation to government and economy, we are building from a foundation of open exchange, cultural competency, and honest acknowledgement and reckoning with the histories we are inheriting and participating in with these programs.

 

Biodiversity - Biodiversity is the variety of life in an environment. Biodiversity is important to agriculture because it helps maintain soil quality and makes crops more resilient to pests, disease, and climate change. 

 

BIPOC Communities - The acronym “BIPOC,” standing for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color is often used to complement less specific categories used in government programs, such as “socially disadvantaged applicant” (SDA) or “historically marginalized group.” Although the term can be frustrating for the way it appears to lump groups together, it came into use to acknowledge the specific challenges involved in anti-Black and anti-Indigenous structural racism.

 

Commercial/Non-commercial Agriculture - Commercial agriculture is the production of livestock or agricultural commodities and the offering of those commodities for sale, for profit. Non-commercial agriculture is the production of crops and livestock for the consumption of the farmer and community. Other distinguishing features include purpose, number of workers involved or not involved in overall farm decision making, scale of machinery use and farm size, and relationships with other businesses, including for finance.

 

Community/economic development - Initiatives, activities or events contributing to the growth and improvement of local communities and economies.

 

Community Garden - A community garden is a cooperatively cultivated space, typically located in an urban or suburban landscape. Community gardens provide a way for individuals, families, or community groups who do not have access to adequate land to participate in gardening and small-scale agriculture. Community gardens range in their sizes and organizational structures, and may be located on public or private land. Benefits associated with community gardens may include aesthetics, food security, interpersonal relationships, crime reduction, community development, entrepreneurial opportunities, environmental sustainability, and many others.

 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - A CSA consists of a community of individuals who commit to supporting a farm operation, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Each CSA is unique, however consumers commonly pay for a share–or a portion of a share–and regularly receive the amount of available produce proportional to their investment.

 

Cultural Competence - An individual's ability to effectively interact, function, and engage with different cultural backgrounds with a sensitivity and respect of the differing values, beliefs, customs, and norms that differ from one’s own. 

 

Farm Stand - A farm stand is a station–either temporary or permanent–from which agricultural and value-added products are sold. Many urban municipalities have rules governing farm stands and “farm-gate sales.” 

 

Farmers’ Market - A market where farmers and gardeners gather to sell their products to other community members, usually occurring regularly during the growing season in Minnesota. 

 

Fiscal sponsorship - A fiscal sponsor is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that receives and directs funding on behalf of an organization that is not classified as tax-exempt and may face systemic barriers when working to obtain funding. (See FAQ for more information about fiscal sponsorship)

 

Micro-grant - For the RTC/USDA urban agriculture micro-grant program, a micro-grant is a financial award that is given to awardees and is not to be paid back (See, in contrast, entry on USDA Loans.). For garden/farm applicants, micro-grants can range from $200-$10,000. Micro-grants for organizations that support urban farmers/gardeners have a range of $5,000-$40,000, and for People’s Gardens, the micro-grant amount can be anywhere between $3,000-$15,000. 

 

Nonprofit organization - There are many types of nonprofit organizations. The most relevant nonprofit organization to the micro-grants process is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which is considered a public charity organization. These organizations’ activities allow them to qualify for not paying federal income taxes. In current economic systems, this type of entity is often well-positioned to receive and manage grants from most funding sources. As a result, in order to receive a micro-grant, it may be helpful for organizations that are not registered as a nonprofit to partner with a nonprofit that can serve as a fiscal sponsor. 

 

Other natural products - This includes plants, livestock, or mushrooms grown for food, medicine, or other uses.

 

Producers - Any individual gardener, farmer, group of growers, or organizations that grow fruits, vegetables and other crops for individual, family, community, and commercial consumption.

 

Renewing the Countryside (RTC) - RTC is a Minnesota nonprofit focused on strengthening communities through providing education, partnership, and assistance. 

RTC is collaborating with Farm Services Agency (FSA) to provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to urban farmers to support the growth of the new USDA Service Center in the Twin Cities, and to provide feedback to FSA about how to best support urban farmers. RTC will also be administering an urban agriculture micro-grants program in the Twin Cities through the USDA National Urban Ag Initiative, which is supporting urban farmers and agriculture in at least 17 cities nationwide. 

RTC also collaborated with NRCS and its People’s Garden program in 2024 to administer a micro-grants program to Twin Cities gardens.  

 

Revenues - Funds gained through sales.

 

Self-funding - Used to describe organizations, individuals, or families who cover costs though their own efforts, resources, and project revenue. (Historically, one of the challenges of small-scale agriculture has been its dependence on family labor and self-exploitation, particularly in the absence of equitable credit and land tenure systems.)

 

Synthetic Inputs - Unlike sourced materials that are often already present–like compost and manure–synthetic inputs are materials used for agriculture–like chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides–that are deliberately manufactured. 

 

Urban agriculture - For the purposes of this initiative, urban agriculture refers to the growing, production, processing, distribution, donation, and sale of food within urban, suburban, and peri-urban (i.e., on the perimeter of urban areas) areas for commercial, non-commercial, hobby, educational, or nonprofit purposes.

 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management. The USDA is made up of 29 agencies.

  • Farm Service Agency (FSA) - FSA is an agency of the USDA that focuses on agricultural policy, credit and loan programs, and conservation, commodity, disaster and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices. FSA is funding the farmer/gardener, community garden, and organization micro-grants. The agency is also developing urban service centers to support growers in the Twin Cities metro area, along with other metro areas across the U.S.  

 

USDA Loans - Loans are a form of credit: funds paid at a point in time and repaid at an agreed-upon future point in time, usually for an agreed-upon rate of interest.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers many loan programs for farmers; most notable for applicants to these programs will be the ones highlighted in the USDA handout on urban agriculture. 

 

Value-added products - Agricultural products that have been processed or modified to increase their market value or shelf life, for example, raspberries made into jam. 

 

Additional Information

Renewing the Countryside and USDA Urban Agriculture Micro-Grants - Informational Packet 

This informational packet is for your reference and includes the following elements: (1) eligible costs; (2) example projects; (3) grantmaking timeline; and (4) project documentation. The micro-grants application itself can be accessed in the above Application Instructions section. 

Eligible costs:

  • Equipment, tools, supplies
  • On-farm infrastructure (e.g. fencing, sheds, hoop house)
  • Irrigation systems
  • Farmland purchase or leasing
  • Organic certification
  • Soil testing
  • Perennial plants/seeds for conservation projects
  • Seeds or plants for production purposes
  • Livestock
  • Staff or contractor support 
  • Professional service providers or qualified consultants (other farmers or business owners, marketing specialists, web designers, etc.)
  • Fiscal sponsorship fees
  • Insurance costs
  • Signage 

Potential projects include:

  • Season extension projects
  • Biodiversity, water, and soil conservation projects
  • Soil toxicity mitigation projects
  • Farmland access or acquisition support
  • Developing a system for irrigation, including rainwater harvesting approaches 
  • Developing a composting system or soil-building practice
  • Building raised beds
  • Transitioning to organic certification and other regenerative farming practice
  • Transitioning from gardening to market gardening as a small business
  • Enhancing marketing capacity by adding cold storage or packaging capacity, developing a farmers’ market stand, improving web design, etc.
  • Innovations that improve efficiencies, growing practices or product quality
  • New product development such as value-added farm goods, diversifying crops or livestock, etc. 

Micro-grants Timeline:

Below is our proposed timeline, please note that the dates may shift as we adjust to new and changing processes:

  • November 1, 2024: application opens
  • December 16, 2024: application closes
  • December 23, 2024 - January 27, 2025: review process
  • February, 2025: applicants notified of outcome, list sent to FSA, environmental review begins
  • April, 2025: goal date for award distribution

Project Documentation with Grant Recipients:

  • For all grantees:
    • We will work with Storymobile to visit a selection of urban farms/gardens during the summer to create a video, which will be shared with collaborators and used for promotional purposes. We recognize that sometimes a project needs to pivot or change in scope. In such cases, we ask that grant recipients communicate any changes, describe why things changed, how the funds were used, and the impact of the new project.
  • For non-commercial and commercial farmer/gardener micro-grant recipients:
    • We will ask the micro-grant recipients to answer a short series of questions and share photos from their project within a few months after their award period ends. 
  • For organization micro-grant recipients:
    • We will ask organizations to submit quarterly reports, allow for photo/video documentation of their projects, and to host a site visit.

RTC can offer grant recipients support for meeting reporting requirements. 

[email protected] | 507-218-0832

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312 Center Street East, Hammond MN 55991 | [email protected] | (507) 291-3663     

   

 

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