The USDA visited my farm and recommended I apply for THIS grant

I spent three-hours with the USDA at my farm this week. They recommended I apply for a specific grant that they feel will augment my mission.

I really did not know what to expect having USDA employees visit my farm this week. I reached out to them a little over a month ago about one of their many grant programs funded by the government every year.

I figured, hey, why not reach out and see what happens?

I knew about these programs because my land loan lender, Farm Credit East, sends us quarterly round-ups of all the free programs, grants, courses, etc. that are available to people in the farming world. When I saw the USDA does indeed issue grants to farmers and gardeners who are pursuing conservation work at their property, I knew I needed to dig a little deeper.

I found the nearest USDA office to me and sent this initial email in September:

I was shocked when their office responded back to me that same day confirming receipt of my inquiry. They CCed in other people at the NRCS (National Resources Conversation Service - this is who came to my property - they are a wing of the USDA) and let me know they were a little backed up with clients and would touch base with me in a few months.

Again, I figured that was the end of the road. I used to work in New York State government many moons ago. I know how the government works (or doesn’t, I should say).

I was shocked when NRCS got back to me last week about scheduling a site visit at my farm. We locked in Tuesday of this week, and they let me know they would be coming with two conservationists and one PR person since I did inform them I document my farm on social media.

What happened next really blew my mind!

They showed up to my property with print-outs, maps, informational brochures, background info on NRCS, and the exact kind of grant they felt fit my mission the most here.

The grant was as follows: