The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing the potential availability of funding for the purpose of leveraging NRCS resources to encourage collaboration with partners in providing strategic conservation delivery assistance and/or provide tools or data that enhance the ability of the agency to support conservation activities.
Donor Name: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
State: New Jersey
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/23/2023
Size of the Grant: $20,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
The New Jersey NRCS is a federal agency that works with the people of New Jersey to bring about effective conservation and sustainable use of land, water, wildlife, and related resources. The New Jersey Community Gardens/Farms Project is an effort to challenge local Conservation Districts, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, institutions of higher learning and other community partners to establish community and pollinator gardens across New Jersey. The simple act of planting a garden or creating a pollinator habitat can help unite neighbors in a common effort and inspire locally led solutions to some of the challenges facing local communities within the state. Addressing hunger and health, while inspiring beautification projects, a community garden can positively unite communities. As part of the USDA’s Urban Agriculture toolkit, the New Jersey NRCS Community Gardens/Farms Project will provide technical and financial assistance to eligible entities to establish community gardens for food production.
Eligible entities are invited to apply for NRCS assistance with the following key conservation objectives:
- Provide conservation learning experiences to urban communities.
- Address concerns regarding food deserts.
- Improve access to healthy, affordable food at the local level.
- Create urban gardening projects that develop urban properties into sustainable production sites for fruits and vegetables.
- Leverage non-federal resources to achieve positive natural resource conservation outcomes.
- Build and develop healthy and vibrant pollinator habitat.
- Build and develop diverse and vibrant urban forests to add biodiversity and habitat to the community, to provide educational opportunities, and/or to offset the urban heat island effect.
- Provide a method to follow-up with the historically underserved producers to measure rate of success of their participation in both technical and financial assistance by NRCS staff.
- Describe the relationship between the applicant and urban and small acreage producers, community gardens, and/or communities addressing food insecurity through farming and education.
- Provide outreach to increase participation among historically underserved farmers and ranchers in NRCS conservation programs and services.
- Clearly identify how and why the intended groups and geographic area were selected.
Historically underserved producers are defined as the following:
- Beginning Farmer or Rancher is a farmer or rancher who has not operated a farm or ranch, or who has operated a farm or ranch for not more than 10 consecutive years, and who will materially and substantially participate in the operation of the farm or ranch. In the case of a contract with an individual, individually or with the immediate family, material and substantial participation requires that the individual provide substantial day-today labor and management of the farm or ranch, consistent with the practices in the county or State where the farm is located.
- Limited Resource Farmer or Rancher is a farmer or rancher who has direct or indirect gross farm sales not more than the current indexed value in each of the previous two years, and who has a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four, or less than 50 percent of county median household income in each of the previous two years.
- Socially Disadvantaged Farmer or Rancher is a farmer or rancher who is a member of one or more of the following groups whose members have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities. Groups include, but are not limited to:
- African Americans
- American Indians
- Alaskan Natives
- Asians
- Hispanics
- Pacific Islanders
- Veteran Farmer or Rancher (VFR) is a farmer or rancher who served in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard, including the reserve components thereof, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable and who also meets the definition of beginning farmer or rancher (BFR). The VFR must: not have operated a farm or ranch; or not have operated a farm or ranch for more than 10 consecutive years.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $75,000
- Award Ceiling: $20,000
- Award Floor: $5,000
Performance Periods
Projects may be between 1 and 3 years in duration.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility for this opportunity is limited to the following entity types:
- City or township governments
- County governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS (other than institutions of higher education)
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State-controlled institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- State governments
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
