WASHINGTON, D.C. – USDA has tentatively chosen 50 projects to split about $300 million designed to “help improve access to land, capital, and markets for underserved farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.”
“Underserved producers have not had access to the amount of specialized technical support that would increase opportunities to access and capital and benefit the launch, growth, resilience, and success of their agricultural enterprises,” Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release, which noted that the money comes from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Missouri projects selected include:
Filling the Gaps in Access to Land and Capital for Kansas City-area Urban Farmers
Project Lead Applicant: Cultivate Kansas City Inc.
Target Audience: Refugees and Black Urban Growers
Project Description: Kansas City metropolitan area urban farmers will benefit by the project improving access to affordable, geographically appropriate farmland and assistance with the removal of barriers to urban farmers participating in federal, state, and local agricultural grant and loan programs.
Reclaiming the Heritage of Farming for the Underserved: A Regional Agricultural Partnership to Access Land, Capital, Markets, and Education
Project Lead Applicant: Kansas Black Farmers Association Inc.
Project Geographic Area: Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Missouri
Target Audience: BIPOC farmers and ranchers
Project Description: The primary goal of the program will be to address capital, market, and land access concerns with the end goals of 1) connecting more underserved producers and would-be producers to technical services and to increase the number of BIPOC owned and operated agribusinesses in the identified region; 2) providing producers and would-be producers with tangible capital assistance, and resources including continuing education to build industry and market awareness, down-payment and/or credit assistance; and 3) building various forms of community partnerships such as cooperatives and equipment sharing programs and a robust and long-lasting multi-generational education and mentorship program that will continue long after year five of the project.
St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective
Project Lead Applicant: Heru Urban Farming And Garden
Project Geographic Area: MO, IL
Target Audience: Black, Latinx, Asian, Multi-Racial
Project Description: The overarching goal of the St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective, in keeping with the purpose of the USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program, is to mobilize, empower and sustain the energy, assets, and resources of a diverse, skilled collective of urban farmers and producers to address core barriers in locally sourced production due to lack of access to technical assistance, economies of scale, and training in agricultural best practices, and relevant, effective outreach and marketing. The St. Louis Urban Farmers Collective intends to strengthen, build, document and archive the body of local and regional knowledge and skill sharing; increase reciprocity/mutual benefit in food distribution; develop and implement fair wage farming/food production employment opportunities in order to improve self-sufficiency among disadvantaged households, curate plans for economies of scale through cooperative land ownership and or resource sharing; and promote a focus on ecological sustainability, demonstrated through environmental stewardship practices.