The Young Farmer Grant (YFG) Program is administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) under the direction of the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA).
Donor Name: Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA)
State: Texas
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/11/2023
Size of the Grant: $5,000 to $20,000
Grant Duration: 15 months
Details:
The purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance in the form of dollar-for-dollar matching grant funds to young agricultural producers that are engaged or will be engaged in creating or expanding an agricultural business in Texas.
Funding Information
- Grant awards will be available for no less than $5,000 and no more than $20,000 for each Grant Recipient selected to receive an award under the program.
- Recipients will have up to fifteen (15) months to complete their projects and seek reimbursement for allowable grant expenses, as authorized by the approved project budget.
Eligible Expenses
- Cost of Purchasing livestock or animals
- Seeds, seedlings, and plants
- Irrigation equipment, parts, and labor
- Refurbishing pre-existing structures such as barns and wells
- Construction of pens and coops
- CEU training costs
- Fencing
- Fuel
- Rental of equipment
- Personnel costs – both salary and benefits (grant funds may be used for directly supporting salaries and wages of employees, but not for the value of applicant’s own services).
- Lease of Land
- Contracts – agreements made with private parties to perform a portion of the grant project.
- Genetics
- Artificial Insemination Costs
- Veterinarian Expenses
- Fertilizer
- Pesticides
- Fungicides
- Herbicides
- Insecticides
- Pre-emergent
- Marketing expenses
- Video and website design
- E-Commerce development
- Non-capitalized equipment – nonexpendable, tangible personal property having an acquisition cost of less than $5,000. (See list of possible ideas)
- Other supplies and direct operating expenses – costs for materials, supplies, and fabricated parts necessary to carry out the grant project.
Eligibility Criteria
- Grant applications will be accepted from any individual person 18 years or older, but younger than 46 years of age as of the application deadline, who is engaged or will be engaged in creating or expanding agriculture in Texas.
- Applications that merely propose to sustain an existing agricultural business are not eligible for an award under this program.
- Corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships or other types of foreign or domestic entities are not eligible for awards under this program. TDA will immediately disqualify any application filed on behalf of a corporation, limited liability company, partnership or other types of foreign or domestic entity.
- The applicant must be able to make dollar-for-dollar matching expenditures to sustain, create or expand the proposed project.
- Applicant must be a U.S. Citizen and applicants must reside and operate in Texas.
- Grant funds will not be awarded to multiple family members applying for funding for the same project.
- To be eligible for a grant, Applicant must have a substantial interest in the agricultural business or operation identified in the application for which the project will impact.
- Each individual grant applicant must clearly describe a distinct project and demonstrate how the individual grant applicant will independently benefit from the grant.
- An applicant that has a family, employment or business relationship with an executive, officer or employee of TDA, or a member of the TAFA Board of Directors, is not eligible for a grant and may not participate in the YFG program. A family relationship is defined as a relationship within the third degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity as outlined in Chapter 573 of the Texas Government Code.
For more information, visit TDA.
