Emergency Resilience Grant

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) Brighter Future Fund’s** Emergency Resilience Grant **was formed through generous support from donors and members seeking to offset financial disruptions farmers and ranchers are experiencing due to natural disasters (such as flooding, wildfires, or avian flu), the loss or delay of funding due to the government funding freeze, or a loss of markets. 

Funding will be prioritized for small to mid-size farms that have previously faced challenges accessing traditional funding opportunities, enhancing financial resilience, supporting business technical assistance, investing in business building, and/or fostering soil health and environmentally beneficial agricultural practices.

• Applicants must be based in the US (any of the 50 states or 5 territories).

• Grants will only be awarded to applicants who have been caused financial hardship as a direct result of disruptive events in recent months, including but not limited to natural disasters (flooding, wildfires, or avian flu), the loss or delay in funding due to the government funding freeze, or a loss of markets. 

• Applicants will be required to provide proof of such financial distress or loss due to a disruptive event listed above.

• Applicants must also include documentation of cost estimates, as well as a proposed budget and timeline.

• A project may involve one or more individual farmers/ranchers or farm/ranch families but only one grant can be awarded per farm/farm family or group.

• Those who were awarded a grant from AFT’s Brighter Future Fund in 2025 (including Regenerate VA Healthy Soils, Farm Vitality, or New England Regenerative Livestock Farming grants) are not eligible to apply to this additional funding opportunity.

• Applicants who applied but were not selected for funding during previous AFT grant cycles are encouraged to apply. Previous recipients of other AFT grants received in 2024 or earlier may apply; however, since funding is limited, AFT may prioritize those who have not received prior awards. 

• Eligible farms or ranches must be for-profit and be able to provide proof of income (or similar, if the operation engages in barter, exchange, or community supply). Operations must be producing food or agricultural products for their community for sale, or barter or exchange. This grant does not intend to support operations that produce agricultural products mainly for personal, household, or family use.

• Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to take advantage of alternate resources designed specifically for nonprofits. 

Small, fast, unrestricted-ish emergency grant — but the 2025 round is closed and no 2026 round has been announced.

• Award: "2025 Emergency Resilience Grants will be awarded in amounts up to $10,000 per project (or up to $10,250 if also awarded a Real Farmer Care award)."

• One per operation: "A project may involve one or more individual farmers/ranchers or farm/ranch families but only one grant can be awarded per farm/farm family or group."

• No match or cost-share is published.

• First-come pressure: "Applications will be reviewed in the order in which they are received, and awards will be made until funding is exhausted." The 2025 window was a 10-day sprint (8:00 a.m. ET April 16 to 11:59 p.m. ET April 26), so have documentation ready before the next round opens.

• You must document the loss: proof of financial distress from a qualifying disruptive event (natural disaster, the federal funding freeze, or a loss of markets), plus cost estimates, a proposed budget and a timeline.

• Status: "Applications are now closed. Please stay tuned for future funding opportunities."

Funding is prioritized for small to mid-size farms that have previously had trouble accessing traditional funding. Farms must be for-profit and producing for sale, barter or exchange — not mainly for household use. 2025 Brighter Future Fund awardees (including Regenerate VA Healthy Soils, Farm Vitality, or New England Regenerative Livestock Farming) are not eligible.

• Guidelines

• Application Questions

• FAQ

• Example Use of Funds

• Directrices En Español

• Preguntas de Solicitud y Elegibilidad en Español

• Preguntas Frecuentes