Farmer Resilience Grants

A farmer is seen from afar, approaching a small outbuilding.

NOFA-VT has a pool of funds to distribute directly to farmers as grants to fund projects that will improve longer-term resilience on farms.

Our definition of ‘resilience’ is framed broadly around the mission of NOFA-VT: to promote organic practices to build an economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just Vermont agricultural system that benefits all living things.

In this grant application, applicants will define how these funds will be used to improve the resilience on your farm, in your community, and/or for your broader community, with a focus on the social, environmental, and economic impact of the project.

Applications are reviewed anonymously (names of farms and farmers removed before review) by a committee of Vermont farmers and farmworkers. Grants are awarded with no need for receipt submission or reporting on behalf of the recipient. New to 2025, we will now be offering two-tiers of funding for this grant! Tier 1 will fund projects up to $2,000, and Tier 2 will fund projects requesting from $2-5,000. Projects in Tier 1 will receive a slight scoring bonus on their applications. This decision was made in an effort to increase the impact of the grant through funding larger projects, while still incentivizing farms to apply for smaller, more approachable projects. We are also still accepting multi-farm applications. If you have a team of farms applying, you may request for up to $5,000 per farm. For example, if you have four farms applying together on a collaborative project, you may apply for up to $20,000.

Please contact Eric Boatti, Farm Resilience Specialist, with any questions at [email protected] or (802) 434-7192.

Applications for 2025 will open at noon on Monday, December 2nd!

Past Resilience Grant Projects

Hawthorn Meadow Farmstead

Liz Echevarria is growing food for her community on a small scale while staying energy neutral.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/resilience-hawth…

Abenaki Tribal Garden

Chief Shirly Hook and Doug Bent are saving seeds, growing food for their community, and teaching the next generation about the importance of food sovereignty.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/visit-abenaki-tr…

The People's Farmstand

The People's Farmstand is collecting local, organic, and culturally important produce from partnering farms and distributing it at free pop-up farmstands.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/resilience-peopl…

All 2024 Grantees >

All 2023 Grantees >

All 2022 Grantees >

FAQs

Who qualifies for this grant?

Eligibility requirements:

Located in Vermont and in business for a minimum of one year.
Must be able to meet the timeline for project completion by December 31st, 2025.
Cannot have received a Vermont Family Farmer of the Month award in 2023 or 2024.
Previous Resilience Grant awardees are welcome to apply, but applicants who did not receive a resilience grant in 2023 or 2024 will receive additional points in the scoring rubric.

What projects can this grant cover?

We are particularly interested in projects that:

mitigate against the harmful effects of our changing climate
repair harms that have been committed due to the historic and widespread systemic racism embedded in our food system
are innovative and will encourage others to adopt new and more promising practices
will lead to broader community resilience through enhanced food security, community-based solutions, and connectivity.

That said, we are leaving the definition of resilience intentionally broad so that applicants can share their ideas about resilience with us and to not limit our imagination, as we know resilience takes many forms and we do not want to inadvertently disallow exciting, out of the box ideas!

What makes a "good" grant request?

While no specific project is inherently more likely to receive funding than others, some suggestions for writing a more broadly appealing grant proposal would be to:

View the rubric while writing! Full rubric for application evaluation is available here: Resilience Grant Application Rubric.
Clearly address how your project request relates to building Social, Economic, & Environmental resiliency.
Offer a project budget that is both reasonably accurate & cites material sources.

When are applications open?

Applications are open each winter. This year, applications will open at Noon on Monday December 2nd, 2024, and will close at Noon on Monday, January 27th, 2025. We are not able to receive applications after this point. If you'd like to stay alerted on NOFA-VT news, sign up for our email newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Meet the Farmer Resilience Grant Review Committee

Amanda Andrews (she/her)

Amanda Andrews of Tamarack Hollow Farm grows 7 acres of organic vegetables for wholesale distribution in Plainfield, VT. She has been farming since 2007 and has experience raising livestock, poultry, and vegetables for local and regional farmers markets, CSA, and wholesale. Her partner helps on the farm and they have two adorable children that enjoy building forts in the greenhouse and distracting the farm crew.

Dani Grover (they/them)

Dani has been living and working at the intersections of agriculture and open ag technology for over a decade. After years of working on vegetable and dairy farms, often as a draft horse teamster, they and two collaborators purchased 222 acres in Corinth, VT and started Shepherd Moon Farm in 2022. They are building a dairy flock and co-operative creamery business on land which will also host folks engaged in social justice work for organizing, retreat, and respite. Dani has served on the board of the Draft Animal Power Network (DAP-Net), as a network facilitator for the open-source farm tool community, FarmHack, and as a trainer and convener with IfNotNow Pittsburgh, organizing American Jews against the occupation of Palestinian land. Dani is an employee owner of the farmer- and staff-owned Farm Generations Co-operative and helps farmers use the co-operative’s e-commerce software, GrownBy. Dani also loves building and making things, cooking and feeding people, and eating cheese.

Claudel "Zaka" Chery is looking over his shoulder, smiling at the camera.

Claudel ‘Zaka’ Chery (he/him)

Zaka, a Haitian poet and film director, moved to Newbury, VT from Jacmel, Haiti in 2011. He was the Assistant to the Director of the Foundation Art Center of Jacmel (FOSAJ). Both Zaka and the Director, Flo McGarrell, ran FOSAJ with great energy and taste. On January 12th, 2010, his beloved country of Haiti entered a nightmare from which there was no hope of waking. 316,000 people died in the 37 seconds as an earthquake moved just under the surface of the island, facilitating his move to Vermont. He is now the President of Calabash Gardens, a progressive, innovative, and sustainably-minded saffron farm in Wells River, Vermont. The farm produces high-quality, organically-grown saffron while striving to uphold the ethics of regenerative agricultural practices. Transparent, passionate, and inspiring, the farm promotes equal opportunity while demonstrating leadership in a blossoming and dynamic US spice industry.

Laura smiles at the camera, holding a bouquet of flowers

Laura Xiao (she/her)

Laura got her start farming organic vegetables in Northern California in the Sierra foothills, before relocating to the arid rolling hills of eastern Washington and finally the forested hills of SE Vermont, where she feels like she has landed, for the time being. Apparently she loves hills. She started growing cut flowers in 2022 as By Hand Farm. In her free time you’ll find her cooking, throwing a ball for Birch, her pit bull with an insatiable appetite for fetch, or dabbling in construction and sewing.

We are using the ideas brought forth in these Resilience Grants to advocate for innovative farm-based policy solutions at the state and national level. We will also share the needs expressed in the applications with the broader funding community in an effort to draw more interest and funds into supporting farms as a key solution to building a more resilient food system for our collective future.

Questions?

For more information, assistance with the grant application, or to request translation services or a paper application, please contact Eric Boatti at (802) 434-7192 or by email.

Donate to the Resilience Fund

To make your tax-deductible donation to support our work increasing resilience on farms and in local communities including Resilience Grants, please fill out our donate form and choose 'Resilience Fund' from the campaign drop-down, or mail a check made out to NOFA-VT with 'Resilience Fund' in the memo to PO Box 697, Richmond, VT 05477.

Donate

Looking for other funding opportunities? Check out other grants administered by NOFA-VT.

See All Grants