Colorado Urban Agriculture Microgrant Program

CDA's Urban Agriculture Microgrant Program is designed to support small-scale projects that help urban producers build a more resilient and sustainable local food system. This microgrant aims to support projects that:

• Expand urban production;

• Implement conservation practices;

• Educate community members;

• Address common challenges faced by urban producers.

Grant awards may not exceed $5,000.00 for a single entity application, and grants are paid on a reimbursement basis. The program is part of CDA's broader Urban Agriculture program, which focuses on supporting agricultural producers in and around Colorado's communities as they work to create local food systems and networks.

You must apply as an entity that actually farms. "Eligible entities can be either non-profit entities or for-profit entities" — but the entity has to produce agricultural products, because the guidelines list as ineligible "Funds to for profit or nonprofit entities that do not produce agricultural products."

Who is shut out, explicitly:

• Institutions. "Funds to institutions including schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, etc." are an ineligible project type.

• Hobby and subsistence growing. Also ineligible: "Funds to individual urban growers or hobbyists for homesteads, backyard subsistence gardens, equine facilities, or community gardens." A commercial urban farm run by one person is not the same thing as a hobbyist, but the guidelines never say in so many words that a sole proprietor qualifies — worth confirming with CDA before you spend time on an application.

• Community and school gardens, this cycle. "Due to limited funding, we are focused on urban farms and ranches rather than community and school gardens for this grant cycle."

What counts as an urban farm. CDA's definition is broad on geography and narrow on purpose: "An agricultural operation located within or on the periphery of an urban, peri-urban, or rural population center, which is designed to serve the local community. These are typically small-scale and grow produce for direct to consumer or local retail or restaurant sale." Note "rural" is included — you do not have to be inside a city. Your operation must be in Colorado.

No acreage minimum, revenue floor or ceiling, years-of-experience requirement, ownership or tenure test, or audience restriction (beginning, veteran, socially disadvantaged) is published.

Project-level exclusions that sink otherwise eligible applicants: research projects, travel expenses, "Leases and purchase of land/water," staff costs except on community-engagement/education/coalition-building projects, and "Projects already funded partially or in full through other grants, state funds, or similar." Purchases must also be complete before June 30, 2026, and "Any work performed prior to the issuance of the notice of award is not eligible for reimbursement."

Applications for this cycle have closed — the full application was due via Google Form "by the grant deadline, January 26th, 2026 at 8:00am MT." Contact Urban Agriculture Program Specialist Emma Hardiman about the next round.

A small reimbursement grant, and — unusually for a state grant — no match is required.

• Cap: "Grant awards may not exceed $5,000.00 for a single entity application, and grants are paid on a reimbursement basis."

• Timing matters more than the cap: "Any work performed prior to the issuance of the notice of award is not eligible for reimbursement." Don't buy before you're awarded.

• Match is optional, not required. The guidelines ask only that "The project budget should realistically cover project materials including both award funds and any match (if necessary)."

• Your ask may be trimmed: "After application submissions and prior to award, CDA may work with applicants to refine budget requests as the department deems fit."

• The pool is genuinely tiny, so expect competition: "In 2025, $20,000 of the Colorado Department of Agriculture's (CDA) Agricultural Management Funding was allocated to the Urban Agriculture Program to be distributed as microgrants for urban producers during Fiscal Year 2026."

• Eligible entities can be non-profit or for-profit, and this cycle is scoped to urban farms and ranches rather than community and school gardens.

• No contract length or ongoing reporting obligation is published beyond a follow-up on outcomes.

The application period is currently closed. For more information or questions, contact the Urban Agriculture Program Specialist, Emma Hardiman. Full Microgrant Guidelines are published as a Google Doc linked from the program page.