Launching The North Valley Food Hub for Climate-Smart Agriculture

Update (2026): This project continues under the USDA Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative (grant #NR233A750004G110). Applications and program details: regenerativeag.csuchico.edu.

This project plans to work collaboratively with regional small and historically underserved producers to launch the North Valley Food Hub for Climate-Smart Agriculture. The Hub plans to provide farm-to-fork integration through marketing and sales support for project climate-smart commodities by consolidating transaction costs, creating a one-stop shopping platform for buyers and a marketplace for growers to post and promote their products. The project plans to support producers in implementing a variety of climate-smart cover crops; no-till or minimum-till practices; nutrient management; enhanced efficiency fertilizers; planting for high carbon sequestration rates; and soil amendments. An incentive payment is planned to be offered for each producer implementing an advanced practice.

Individual growers apply directly — this is a producer program, not a partner-only project. Eligibility is fully published on the program's Marketing Advancement Plan page, and every test below is quoted from it.

Who and where:

• "Growers must primarily farm in one of the following counties: Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, Glenn, Butte, Tehama, Nevada, Placer" — an eleven-county North Valley / Sacramento Valley footprint, not statewide California.

Hard revenue band (both ends bind):

• "Growers must have conducted at least $1,500 and no more than $750,000 in sales of agricultural products produced on farm in the previous year (2025)." Farms above $750,000 in on-farm sales are excluded.

Practice requirement:

• "Growers must have implemented at least one of the NRCS Conservation Practices listed in the table below on their farm. There is no reimbursement for implementing these practices, but photo evidence of at least one completed practice is required of all program participants." The eligible-practice table covers croplands, orchard/vineyard and grazing land and includes cover crop (340), compost/soil carbon amendment (336), conservation cover (327), no-till and reduced-till residue management (329/345), nutrient management (590), prescribed grazing (528), silvopasture (381), whole orchard recycling (384) and windbreak establishment (380), among others.

Registration and paperwork:

• "Growers must establish records with Farm Service Agency and provide NVFH with the following: A copy of an FSA map showing Farm, Tract and Field IDs" and "A copy of the 'Producer Subsidiary Print'."

• "Growers must attest they are not receiving any duplicative state or federal funding."

Selection is competitive rather than automatic: "During open enrollment periods, we will be accepting and reviewing applications and eligibility requirements. Chosen applicants will complete 3 phases of planning and evaluation with incentive payments offered for successful completion of each phase."

No acreage minimum, years-of-experience test, or audience restriction (beginning, veteran, socially disadvantaged) is published, though the project describes its target as regional small and historically underserved producers.

How to get in: new growers start with the North Valley Food Hub Team Builder Form for a consultation; the MAP application itself opens only during announced enrollment windows ("Apply during open enrollment (coming soon)"). Questions go to Benjamin Lewis, Grower Outreach & Education Programs Manager, blewis5@csuchico.edu. Funded by USDA AMP grant #NR233A750004G110.

Growers are paid staged incentive payments for completing planning work, not reimbursed for practice costs. Per the program's Marketing Advancement Plan (MAP) page:

• Phase 1 — Farm Marketing Self-Assessment: "Incentive Payment: $5,000" for completing a guided self-assessment of current marketing, customers, sales channels and goals.

• Phase 2 — Creating a Marketing Advancement Plan: "Incentive Payment: $10,000" for building a marketing plan on the program's template.

• Phase 3 — Ongoing Improvement and Evaluation: "Additional Incentive Payment: To Be Announced." Participants report back on progress "within one to two years."

So a selected grower can expect $15,000 across the two priced phases, with a third payment not yet set. CRARS frames this as paying for executive time: "growers are compensated for their time spent working on strategic planning and the ongoing evaluation of sales and marketing."

No match or cost-share is required. There is no reimbursement for the conservation practice that gates eligibility: "There is no reimbursement for implementing these practices, but photo evidence of at least one completed practice is required of all program participants."

Size and geography gates: growers must farm primarily in Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, Glenn, Butte, Tehama, Nevada or Placer county, and "must have conducted at least $1,500 and no more than $750,000 in sales of agricultural products produced on farm in the previous year." Growers must also attest they are "not receiving any duplicative state or federal funding" and have FSA records on file. Program is funded by USDA AMP grant #NR233A750004G110. No amount is published for the separate specialty-equipment access or technical-support components.

Online forms, but the one that pays money opens only in enrollment rounds — and no round is open as published.

New to the program? Start with a consultation. "Fill out the North Valley Food Hub Team Builder Form to set up a consultation and learn how the program can benefit your operation." Team Builder Form: https://form.jotform.com/240456250787158. This is the front door if you have never worked with the Food Hub.

The funded opportunity — the Marketing Advancement Plan (MAP). This is the component that pays ($5,000 for Phase 1, $10,000 for Phase 2). It runs in rounds, not continuously: "During open enrollment periods, we will be accepting and reviewing applications and eligibility requirements. Chosen applicants will complete 3 phases of planning and evaluation with incentive payments offered for successful completion of each phase." The application — the program calls it the "MAP-lication" — is a form at https://form.jotform.com/260834793617164, but as published today it is labelled "Apply during open enrollment (coming soon)."

No deadline is published, because intake is neither rolling nor currently open. The program's FAQ answers "How do I apply?" with: "Applications are accepted during designated enrollment periods. Visit the program website or contact the North Valley Food Hub for information about current application opportunities and deadlines." So watch the MAP page or email the program to be told when the next window opens. Selection is competitive within a round — "Chosen applicants" — not first-come.

Already want to sell through the hub? That is a separate form: existing participants use the Grower/Seller Application at https://form.jotform.com/241647001173144 to get onto the marketplace platform. It is a sales-platform signup, not the incentive application.

What to assemble before a window opens:

• FSA farm records, plus two documents you hand to NVFH: "A copy of an FSA map showing Farm, Tract and Field IDs" and "A copy of the 'Producer Subsidiary Print'." If you have no FSA records yet, "Growers must establish records with Farm Service Agency" — start that at your county FSA office, since it takes time.

• Photo evidence of a completed NRCS conservation practice: "photo evidence of at least one completed practice is required as part of your application." The eligible-practice table, with CPS numbers and links to each NRCS standard, is on the MAP page.

• Your prior-year on-farm sales figure, to show you fall between $1,500 and $750,000.

• An attestation that you are "not receiving any duplicative state or federal funding."

There is no budget, proposal, or letter of support to write. Phase 1 is "a guided self-assessment"; Phase 2 uses "a provided template." Note the pace once selected: "All selected growers are expected to complete both phases within 60 days."

Who to ask. Benjamin Lewis, Grower Outreach & Education Programs Manager — blewis5@csuchico.edu. General CRARS contact: regenerativeag@csuchico.edu, (530) 898-4335. A recorded 16 June 2026 webinar (with a written summary and transcript) and a full FAQ page are both linked from the MAP page.