Meat & Produce Agriculture Development Grant (VAAFM)

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) announces funding for Meat and Produce Agricultural Development Grants (Meat and Produce ADG). This opportunity is part of a onetime appropriation, in part developed by the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Agriculture, focused on high need agricultural sectors.

This program supports produce and meat producers and processors in implementing projects that improve their climate resilience, operational efficiency and capacity growth, and/or worker and food safety and product quality. 

Eligible businesses and operations must be registered and operate within the state of Vermont. Only for-profit business structures are eligible. Applicants must be compliant with all state regulations (including but not limited to water quality, taxes, and child support) and be in good standing with the State of Vermont at the time of applying, remaining so throughout the entire grant period.

Eligible operations/businesses must perform, or be diversifying into at least one of these four activities:

• Growing and selling produce (see definition on pg. 24)

• Processing produce that is grown by the same business

• Raising livestock and/or poultry for processing 5

• Performing slaughter and/or primary processing of livestock and/or poultry meeting the criteria below

Applicants performing animal processing must source at least 50% of livestock/poultry from Vermont OR be applying with a project to significantly increase their capacity to source from Vermont.

As long as they are registered with the state, eligible businesses of any age may apply but must demonstrate business viability and operational experience commensurate with the scope of their project and funding request. 

Applications for this program must be submitted through the WebGrants grants management system.

REGISTRATION

If you're new to WebGrants, submit the WebGrants Registration Form. It usually takes about two business days to process registrations. Make sure to register for an account well before the application deadline.

https://agriculturegrants.vermont.gov/register.do

SUBMISSION POLICY

Applicants must follow all instructions in this request for applications (RFA), including the dates and times for submitting applications. The Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets will only consider the last complete submission through WebGrants before the deadline as the official application. We cannot accept incomplete or late applications after the deadline (February 26, 2024 at 2:00 PM) barring exceptional circumstances. The WebGrants system will not accept applications after the deadline.

SUBMISSION CONFIRMATION

After you've submitted your application successfully, you'll be taken to a page confirming your submission. This page will have an Application ID number. You'll also get an email confirming your submission.