Browse Ambrook’s collection of grants, loans, discounts, cost shares, easements, and insurance for african american.

Apply for the fellowship and mini-grant directly online at this portal.
For Spanish speaking farmers
Our partners at Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust (NEFOC) are currently piloting a sibling fellowship program for Spanish-speaking farmers. They do not have applications open at this time, but if you are interested in learning more and want to receive notifications about future program developments, please contact Gaby Pereyra at: gaby@nefoclandtrust.org.

Soul Fire Farm — Braiding Seeds Fellowship

The Braiding Seeds Fellowship, a project of Soul Fire Farm Institute in collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, provides beginning farmers with resources, professional development, and mentorship to support their livelihood on land.

Braiding Seeds fellows receive a $50,000 stipend; a menu of professional development opportunities including 1:1 mentorship, workshops, farm&#x2004;finance and business plan support; cohort gatherings; and individualized coaching.

Farming will be the main work of fellows, who will dedicate a minimum average of 20+ hours per week on their farms during the growing season. Fellows will attend online and (COVID conditions allowing) in-person cohort gatherings for networking and professional development. Fellows will also complete at least 50 hours of professional development over 18 months from the menu provided, including: 1:1 mentorship, workshops, farm finance and business plan support. Fellows are also asked to provide feedback and suggestions to inform future years of the program. Fellows will participate in regular 1:1 check in meetings with fellowship staff as well.

### Mini Grants

In addition to the fellowship, Soul Fire Farm will also be awarding 12 runners-up with mini-grants of $2500 each. Applicants have the option of applying for one of these mini-grants within the fellowship application form. Opting in or out of consideration for the mini-grant will not positively or negatively impact the ranking of your overall fellowship application.



The Braiding Seeds Fellowship, a project of Soul Fire Farm Institute in collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, provides beginning farmers with resources, professional development, and mentorship to support their livelihood on land.
Braiding Seeds fellows receive a $50,000 stipend; a menu of professional development opportunities including 1:1 mentorship, workshops, farm finance and business plan support; cohort gatherings; and individualized coaching.
Farming will be the main work of fellows, who will dedicate a minimum average of 20+ hours per week on their farms during the growing season. Fellows will attend online and (COVID conditions allowing) in-person cohort gatherings for networking and professional development. Fellows will also complete at least 50 hours of professional development over 18 months from the menu provided, including: 1:1 mentorship, workshops, farm finance and business plan support. Fellows are also asked to provide feedback and suggestions to inform future years of the program. Fellows will participate in regular 1:1 check in meetings with fellowship staff as well.
Mini Grants
In addition to the fellowship, Soul Fire Farm will also be awarding 12 runners-up with mini-grants of $2500 each. Applicants have the option of applying for one of these mini-grants within the fellowship application form. Opting in or out of consideration for the mini-grant will not positively or negatively impact the ranking of your overall fellowship application.

Beginning farmers and land stewards, ages 18+, with a minimum of 1 year of farming and/or land stewardship experience and no more than 3 years of management level farming and/or land stewardship experience, are welcome to apply. The fellowship is for Black, Indigenous, and people of color farmers based in the northeast and southeast of the United States, including all states and territories that touch the Atlantic Ocean and its tidal arms (ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, DC, MS, AL, LA, PA, WV, VT.) The fellowship is for individuals, though fellows are welcome to share their resources with collaborators in their respective projects. Applicants should be passionate about the flourishing of Black agrarianism.
Who qualifies as a farmer?
For the purpose of the fellowship, a farmer is a person whose livelihood entails collaboration with an ecosystem to produce food, forage, seeds, medicine, or other crops. The returns of their labor may afford the farmer wages, sales, and/or community-provisioning and they may be termed a peasant, urban grower, campesino, farmworker, row crop farmer, shepherd, herb grower, schoolyard gardener, nonprofit farmer, ocean farmer, orchardist, fiber farmer, etc. They have in common tending to the earth as their means of ‘securing the necessities of life.’ The fellowship looks to support farmers who are producing at a scale that can support the wider community, and not just a single household.

A lump sum of money for a specific purpose that does not need to be paid back.

Grant

- Program Information
- Frequently Asked Questions

Native Americans

Stewardship

Socially Disadvantaged

People Of Color

Historically Underserved

Fellows receive a $50,000 stipend over the course of the multi-year fellowship. Separately, 12 runners-up receive $2,500 mini-grants.

Enroll through Central State University Extension. Program director: Dr. Alcinda (Cindy) Folck. The current enrollment window is not stated.

Siddhartha (Sid) Dasgupta, Ph.D.

Project Director, Building Small Farm Viability

Alcinda (Cindy) Folck, Ph.D.

Project Co-Director; Extension Agriculture & Natural Resources Program Leader for Ohio

Building Small Farm Viability is a Central State University Extension (CSU-CESTA) training program in production, marketing, and business planning for farmers who began operating within the last 3-10 years, delivered across eight Ohio sites plus free smartphone-app remote learning. Per CSU Extension's Agricultural and Natural Resources overview, "Farmers enrolled in this project can be eligible for stipends to attend various training programs related to the project." The stipend amount and current enrollment window are not published.



Target groups include African-American and socially-disadvantaged farmers with 3+ years of experience, military veterans with 3+ years of experience, and socially-disadvantaged youth in the Cincinnati and Toledo areas. Specific stipend eligibility is not published.

Education

Building Small Farm Viability — CSU Extension

Español

Women

Labor

Legal & Finance

Primarily an education/training program; enrolled farmers can be eligible for stipends to attend the project's training programs (production, marketing, and business planning). The stipend amount and specific eligibility terms are not published — contact CSU Extension for current details.

Loan Types:
- Direct Operating Loan
- Direct Farm Ownership Loan
- Microloan


Ask USDA — Public Inquiries

**_This program has been archived from the USDA's website with no further information provided. _**


Loans to historically underserved and women farmers and ranchers&#x2004;are not a special type of loan program or loan type. Rather, this designation refers to a specific [funding](https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/funding/index) source known as Socially Disadvantaged Applicant (SDA) funding. To be considered for targeted funding, loan applicants must voluntarily provide race, ethnicity, and gender information.

You do not have to choose between identifying as an historically underserved individual or a [beginning farmer](https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/beginning-farmers-and-ranchers-loans/index), nor is there a "benefit" of deciding between one designation over the other. Identifying yourself as an historically underserved beginning farmer loan applicant is completely acceptable.



This program has been archived from the USDA's website with no further information provided. 

Loans to historically underserved and women farmers and ranchers are not a special type of loan program or loan type. Rather, this designation refers to a specific funding source known as Socially Disadvantaged Applicant (SDA) funding. To be considered for targeted funding, loan applicants must voluntarily provide race, ethnicity, and gender information.
You do not have to choose between identifying as an historically underserved individual or a beginning farmer, nor is there a "benefit" of deciding between one designation over the other. Identifying yourself as an historically underserved beginning farmer loan applicant is completely acceptable.

While FSA is committed to serving all farmers and ranchers, by statute, FSA targets a portion of all Guaranteed loan funds, Direct Operating and Direct Farm Ownership loan funds, Microloan funding, and Youth loans, to historically underserved farmers and ranchers, which include:
- Women
- African-Americans
- Alaskan Natives
- American Indians
- Hispanics
- Asians
- Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

To be considered for targeted "SDA" loan funding, loan applicants must voluntarily provide his or her ethnicity, race and/or gender on the loan application. Otherwise, the Agency's loan process and loan requirements are identical for all loan applicants. There is no difference between historically underserved and women applicants and those who do not fall under this funding allocation other than the availability of targeted funding.

A payment that must be returned to the provider following specified terms of repayment and interest rate.

Loan

For more info, contact your local USDA Service Agent

Helpful Links: 
- Fact Sheet: Loans for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (PDF, 547 KB)
- Direct Loan Making Handbook 3-FLP (PDF, 2.5 MB)
- Annie's Project
- Alaska Native Knowledge Network
- Intertribal Agriculture Council
- Latino Economic Development Center
- Minority Landowner Magazine
- National Hmong American Farmers
- National Women in Agriculture Association
- Farmers.gov


This is a funding set-aside, not a separate loan product — you apply for ordinary FSA direct or guaranteed farm ownership (FO) and operating (OL) loans, and "Each fiscal year, FSA targets a portion of its direct and guaranteed farm ownership (FO) and operating loan (OL) funds to SDA farmers. Non-reserved funds can also be used by SDA individuals." Terms below are from FSA's August 2025 SDA fact sheet.

Repayment terms and rates (direct loans)
- "Repayment terms for direct OLs depend on the collateral securing the loan and usually run from one to seven years."
- "Repayment terms for direct FO loans vary but never exceed 40 years."
- "Interest rates for direct loans are set periodically according to the government's cost of borrowing." No rate figure is published in the fact sheet — check FSA's current rates page.
- "Guaranteed loan terms are set by the lender. Interest rates for guaranteed loans are established by the lender."

Down Payment Program (a special program for SDA and beginning farmers buying a farm) — the most concrete numbers FSA publishes here:
- "The applicant must make a cash down payment of at least 5 percent of the purchase price"
- "The maximum loan amount does not exceed 45 percent of the least of the purchase price of the farm or ranch to be acquired, the appraised value... or $667,000 (Note: This results in a maximum loan amount of $300,150)"
- "The term of the loan is 20 years. The interest rate is 4 percent below the direct FO rate, but not lower than 1.5 percent"
- "FSA can provide up to a 95 percent guarantee if financing is obtained from a commercial lender. Participating lenders do not have to pay a guarantee fee"
- The rest of the purchase must be financed with "an amortization period of at least 30 years" and "cannot have a balloon payment due within the first 20 years of the loan"

Land Contract Guarantees (seller-financed purchase from a retiring farmer)
- "The purchase price of the farm cannot exceed the lesser of $500,000 or the market value of the property."
- "The buyer must provide a minimum down payment of 5 percent of the purchase price of the farm. The interest rate is fixed at a rate not to exceed the direct FO loan interest rate in effect at the time the guarantee is issued, plus three percentage points."
- Two guarantee options: "Prompt Payment Guarantee: A guarantee up to the amount of three amortized annual installments plus the cost of any related real estate taxes and insurance" or "Standard Guarantee: A guarantee of 90 percent of the outstanding principal balance."
- "The guarantee period is 10 years for either plan regardless of the term of the land contract. The contract payments must be amortized for a minimum of 20 years. Balloon payments are prohibited during the 10-year term of the guarantee."

Inventory farmland: "Eligible SDA and beginning farmers are given first priority to purchase these properties at the appraised market value" within the first 135 days of advertisement; ties are broken randomly.

To be counted for targeted funding you must voluntarily report race, ethnicity and/or gender on the loan application — otherwise the loan process and requirements are identical. No overall maximum direct FO or OL loan amount appears in the SDA fact sheet; FSA's separate loan information chart carries those limits.

List of Agricultural Funding for African American