Mar 24, 2021

USDA makes $5.3M available for Micro-Grants for Food Security Program

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service announced March 24 $5.3 million in funding for the Micro-Grants for Food Security Program. Authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill, the program was designed specifically to realize USDA’s commitment to support communities across the U.S. that have significant levels of food insecurity and import significant quantities of food.

The Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (MGFSP) 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 subawards to eligible entities 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. Any grant application submitted after the due date will not be considered unless the applicant provides documentation of an extenuating circumstance that prevented their timely submission of the grant application. Read more in AMS Late and Non-Responsive Application Policy.

For more information about grant eligibility, visit the MGFSP webpage or contact [email protected].