Minnesota Grants Aim To Support Sustainable Farming Practices

There is one thing that every business owner or manager is trying to figure out each day, and that is how to be more profitable.  Juggling the expenses of doing the job with how they can save money without affecting the quality of their product is a major challenge. 

And the farming industry is no exception to this. There is a constant, daily effort looking for the best, most economical way that farmers can not only survive doing what they’re doing but they can make money in the process. 

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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is accepting applications now through Thursday December 17th at 4pm for the Agricultural Growth Research and Innovation Sustainable Agricultural Demonstration Grant (boy, that is a mouthful).  

These grants provide money for efforts that are developing methods for farmers to improve their profit margins while best utilizing the resources they have to work with. 

Farmers in Minnesota aren’t the only ones eligible to apply for these grants, educational institutions and non-profit organizations can also make their case for getting funding from the Department of Agriculture’s AGRI Program. This program distributes monies to those eligible parties around the state that are supporting the advancement of agriculture and renewable energy projects. 

Applicants can request up to $50,000 in funding for their work, with any requests between $25,000 and $50,000 needing to be matched dollar for dollar. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture expects to giveaway around $350,000 through this grant program. 

In the past, winners have worked on projects like non-chemical pest control, cover crops and crop rotation, livestock grazing for invasive plant management and more. Applicants are encouraged to submit ideas that are innovative to Minnesota or unique to this part of the country, but the idea doesn’t have to be a brand-new idea.