Deadline: 30-Jul-21
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) requests applications for the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP) Competitive Grants Program for fiscal year (FY) 2021.
The primary goal of UAIP is to assist eligible entities with projects that support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production. NRCS anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2021 will be approximately $4 million.
Type of Grants
There are two types of UAIP Grants types which are entitled:
- Planning Projects (PP): The purpose of PP is to support the development of projects that will either initiate, build upon, or expand the efforts of farmers, gardeners, citizens, government officials, schools, and other stakeholders in urban areas and suburbs. PPs may be, but are not limited, to accomplish one or any number of the following—
- Develop recommendations for implementing community gardens and farms that can include urban agroforestry practices, food forests, or orchards, that respond to community needs as it relates to how food is grown, distributed, and marketed in target area(s);
- Facilitate urban agriculture assessments and identify opportunities that connect community needs with the benefits of urban agriculture such as food access, nutrition education, conservation, innovation, and economic development;
- Support the development of business plans, feasibility studies, and strategies to help offset start-up costs for new and beginning farmers in urban and suburban areas;
- Provide support for municipal planning that consider policies to meet the growing needs of and zoning for community gardens and farms, urban agroforestry, orchards, rooftop farms, outdoor vertical production, green walls, indoor farms, greenhouses, high-tech vertical technology farms, and hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponic farm facilities; or
- Assist schools that seek to increase knowledge of food and agricultural disciplines such as nutrition, crop and biology science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to develop and implement programs that create future leaders, farmers, gardeners, and entrepreneurs in agriculture and innovative production.
- Implementation Projects (IP): The purpose of IP is to accelerate existing and emerging models of urban, indoor, and other agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers or gardeners. IPs are to improve access to local food in the targetarea(s). IPs may be designed to—
- Facilitate the development of entrepreneurial projects by offering needed resources, such as job training, land, equipment, mentoring, and other business development assistance to new and beginning farmers;
- Increase food production in small urban and indoor spaces with emerging technologies such as vertical farming, hydroponics, aquaponics, rooftop farms, urban agroforestry etc.;
- Operate community gardens or nonprofit farms to educate a community on food systems, nutrition, environmental impacts, urban agroforestry, food forests, sustainable agriculture, and agricultural production and/or to offer hands-on training in farming or gardening;
- Meet specific State, local, or community food and agricultural needs by assisting municipalities, food producers, community organizations, and schools with policies for community gardens and farms that address food access, soil health, emerging technologies, and agricultural business; or
- Provide schools with resources to incorporate and emphasize the importance of growing and consuming nutritious food as well as training students for careers in agriculture.
Funding Information
- Estimated Funding: The anticipated total amount of Federal funding the agency expects to award through this opportunity is $4,000,000.
- Planning Projects (PP): The estimated funding floor for PP is $50,000 and the funding ceiling is $200,000.
- Implementation Projects (IP): The estimated funding floor for IP is $50,000 and the funding ceiling is $300,000.
- Start Dates and Performance Periods: Projects may be between 1 and 3 years in duration. Applicants should plan their projects based on an estimated project start date of October 1, 2021.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants and applications must meet eligibility criteria by the application deadline to be considered for award. Eligible applicant type is determined by the implementing program statute. Applicant entities identified in the SAM.gov exclusions database as ineligible, prohibited/restricted, or excluded from receiving Federal contracts and certain Federal assistance and benefits will not be considered for Federal funding, as applicable to the funding being requested under this Federal program.
Eligibility for this opportunity is limited to the following entity types:
- Native American tribal governments (federally recognized);
- Native American tribal governments (other than federally recognized);
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), other than institutions of higher education;
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education;
- A unit of local government; and
- Any school that serves any of the grades kindergarten through grade 12.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333854