The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has received $500,000 in federal funding through the Minnesota Climate Smart Food Systems (CSFS) Initiative to fund Developing Markets for Continuous Living Cover (CLC) grants.
Donor Name: Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA)
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/09/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
These grants are for organizations in Minnesota to develop enterprises, supply chains, and markets for continuous- living cover crops and cropping systems in the early stages of commercial development. The CLC grant will fund projects that expand supply and markets for continuous living cover crops and cropping systems. The program is anticipated to provide new revenue streams for producers and emerging businesses and organizations in rural Minnesota and improve soil health and water quality by funding early-stage commercial development of continuous living crops. For the purposes of this proposal, “continuous-living cover crops and cropping systems” refers to agroforestry, perennial biomass, perennial forage, perennial grains, and winter-annual cereal grains and oilseeds that have market value as harvested or grazed commodities.
The goal is to provide grants to CLC crops and cropping systems value chain enterprises for equipment infrastructure and business and market development. For example, this could include customized equipment to harvest the crop, clean and store seeds, and process crops for food products. The intended outcome is supply chain and market development that can increase CLC crops and cropping systems on agricultural lands in Minnesota.
Funding Information
An amount of $500,000 is available through the Minnesota Climate Smart Food Systems (CSFS) Initiative. The minimum award is $10,000 and the maximum award is $100,000.
Grant Period
October 2025 and end October 2026.
Eligible Project Expenses
Eligible expenses are those directly related to the project outcomes and include but are not limited to:
- Personnel costs
- In-State travel costs
- Supplies or equipment required to conduct research
- Contracted services
- Payments or stipends to external project participants
- Plot fees and services.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the minimum requirements to be fully considered for this grant opportunity. Applicants must:
- Be an organization in Minnesota (including a company, government, Tribal Nation, urban American Indian Community, partnership, and any type of civil or political association of people) and authorized to do business in Minnesota.
- Focus on continuous living cover (CLC) crops and cropping systems as defined in the Grant Overview.
- Be in good standing with the State of Minnesota:
- No back taxes owed.
- No defaults on Minnesota state-backed financing for the last seven years.
- Acceptable performance on past MDA grants (if applicable).
- Compliant with current state regulations.
- Be located in Minnesota.
- Acceptable performance on past state grants.
- Applicants are limited to one grant per organization for this RFP.
- MDA employees and their spouses are not eligible to receive grants from this program.
For more information, visit MDA.
