Financing

Grants

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture has Farm Viability Grants

http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=1368&q=317242
For use by both farmers and non-profits

Sustainable Agricultural GrantsSARE
http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/FGinfo.html

Also, a resource for our farmers looking to apply:
http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/farmerhowto.pdf

Farm Aid - In 2005 Farm Aid  granted $663,544 family farm groups across the country in 2005 to strengthen family farm agriculture and to promote food from family farms.
http://faid.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=
aboutus_home&JServSessionIdr005=fv9fgnd7x1.app2b

Loans

Connecticut Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/ct/ offers a wide range of financial information and loan programs, including SBA Express Loan Program, SBA LowDoc Program, Microloan Program and Pre-Qualification Loan Program Intermediaries.

Equity Trust

The mission of Equity Trust is to promote equity in the world by changing the way people think about and hold property.  One part of their work is a revolving loan fund assisting Community Supported Agriculture.  www.equitytrust.org/

First Pioneer

http://www.firstpioneer.com/finance/finance.htm is a single source for all of your financing needs. Loans for various purposes, flexible loan terms and top-notch customer service make us your one-stop shop for all your credit requests. For eastern Connecticut (Windham and New London counties and eastern Tolland), call: Lynn Weaver at (860) 779-0717. For central and western Connecticut (Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven counties and western Tolland) call: Keith Stechschulte at (860) 741-4380. For Fairfield County, contact Blane Allen at (845) 343-1802. For Litchfield County, contact Bill Martin at (518) 851-3313.

USDA - Farm Service Agency
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/
Offers several types of loans that farmers can apply for, including Beginning Farmer and Rancher loans, emergency loans, farm operating loans, and farm ownership loans. FSA also administers other federal programs that deal with crops and livestock.

CT Dept of Agriculture

Farm Viability Grant

Due November 14, 2008

These grants are to Connecticut farmers, municipalities and registered non-profits. The grants serve to protect and preserve Connecticut for future generations by providing increased funding for municipal open space grants, farm viability and preservation, historic preservation, and new and existing affordable housing programs, along with new infrastructure to support and promote agriculture in Connecticut. About one million dollars should be available in 2008 to fund two competitive matching grants in the new program.  

The Agriculture Viability Grants Program includes two (2) grants: the Farm Viability Grant for Municipalities (FVG) and the Farm Transition Grant (FTG).   Both are competitive matching grant programs with similar monies available but distinctive differences.

The FVG grant can only be used by municipalities and may be used for capital projects or for planning projects. The 50% match can be in in-kind services or funding from other sources. 

The FTG will be used to strengthen the economic viability of Connecticut farmers, agricultural not for profit organizations and agricultural cooperatives.  A producer and a cooperative match must be at least 50% and may not include in-kind services, while a not for profit match must be at least 40% and may include in-kind services.  The CT Department of Agriculture’s share of the project budget is capped at $50,000 in matching funds.

Click here for more information, including application, or call Ron Olsen at 860-713-2550.