California Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training Program (BFFTP)

The Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training Program supports new and existing beginning farmer training programs and agricultural apprenticeship programs in California. The program is aimed at helping to strengthen networks and developing strategies to overcome barriers including but not limited to education, training, land access, capital, and equipment for production and marketing of crops. The program also focuses on prioritizing direct access to historically underserved groups to ensure the transition to farm ownership is successful.

Grants are awarded to organizations that operate or expand beginning farmer and farmworker training/apprenticeship programs (reported eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, Tribal governments, and community colleges; confirm against the current Request for Applications). Beginning farmers and farmworkers may contact BFFTP program organizations directly to inquire about farmworker training and educational opportunities.

The overall goal of the program is to ensure that resources are dedicated to strengthening support for socially disadvantaged and/or beginning farmers and ranchers in the first ten years of business, and for farmworkers who can improve their job security with additional skills training. A secondary goal is to build and grow regional networks. The 2025 round awarded $5 million to seven projects. Reported award tiers (from prior Requests for Applications, verify against current RFA): program planning and curriculum development grants of up to $100,000; program implementation grants of up to $1,000,000.

Program Status: Closed. In 2025, CDFA's Office of Grants Administration awarded $5 million in grants to seven projects throughout the state through the 2025 Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training Grant Program (BFFTP). (The program page's status box also references the 2022 BFFTP Grant Program as closed.) There is no open solicitation at this time.