Young Farmer Grant Program in the US

The goal of this fund is to provide financial assistance for any cost that currently limits your ability to start, run, or grow your operation in the way you’d like.

These grants are available to farmers of all races and gender identities. To ensure that the grants are contributing to ending inequity in access to agricultural careers, they commit to provide a minimum of 50% of the grants to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, and 50% of grants to female-identifying, non-binary, and trans farmers.

This program seeks to support “livelihood farmers and ranchers” or those seeking long term careers that financially support them through agriculture.

Funding Information

• $5,000 grants
• Grant recipients also received a one-year membership to the National Young Farmers Coalition.

Grant funding may support

• Grant funding may support completing a project, purchasing a new piece of equipment, covering operating costs such as seeds and compost, building new infrastructure, attending a farmer training program or conference, hiring additional farm labor, or covering personal finances that stand in the way of farm success, including but not limited to childcare, housing, or student loan payments. Funds, once awarded, may be used to match other grant opportunities.

Eligibility Criteria

• At this time they are not able to offer funding to farmers who are not currently, or are not working, toward making income farming through long-term careers in agriculture.
  • Applicant must be the operation owner or plan to start their own operation in 2024.
  • For non-profit farms without “owners” applicant must be the lead farmer/farm manager.
  • Farmer part-owners of cooperative or collective farms are qualified to apply.
• Young farmers and ranchers who are at least 18 and not over 40 years of age as of May 1, 2024.
• Applicant must use farm practices that protect natural resources for future generations.
• Applicant must be farming or ranching in one of the 50 U.S. states, D.C., in Puerto Rico, or in the Virgin Islands.
• There are no preferences for what applicants produce on their operations or for current scale of farm.
• They strongly encourage farmers of color, Indigenous farmers, and farmers who are facing significant structural barriers to accessing other funding opportunities and success in agriculture to apply.
• Staff and Board members of the National Young Farmers Coalition are not eligible to apply.
• Recipients of the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Young Farmer Grants are not eligible to apply.

Rules and Requirements

• Grant recipients will be required to submit two reports:
  • A progress report between in the summer of 2024 detailing progress toward goals and any potential changes to original plan.
  • A final brief written report in October 2024 detailing how the funds were used.
• Grant recipients are required to spend the entirety of their $5,000 grant before their report is due in October 2024.
  • Savings accounts for later use are not an eligible application of these funds.
• Applicants must submit a photo with their application. If the applicant is selected, their name and photo will be included in a public announcement of grant recipients on youngfarmers.org and on the Chipotle and the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation websites.
• The National Young Farmers Coalition, Chipotle, and the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation will work with some grant recipients to share their stories nationally through their communications channels. Grant recipients have the option to opt out of this coverage.

For more information, visit National Young Farmers Coalition.