Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA)

Apply through CFRA's secure online lending system or a PDF application (English/Spanish). Required documents: commitment award/approval letter and associated documents (grant proposal, budget), two most recent business bank statements, two most recent tax returns, and business financials.

Meg Jackson

Senior Loan Specialist

Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) short-term bridge financing for borrowers who have been awarded a grant or approved for a cost-share program but lack cash on hand to cover expenses before reimbursement — e.g., constructing a hoop house with EQIP funding, implementing an NRCS conservation practice, setting up cost-share perimeter fencing, or purchasing equipment/materials with grant funding. Repaid once the grant or cost-share payment is received.



Borrowers who have been awarded a grant or approved for a cost-share program with reimbursable expenses; loan funds must be used on reimbursable expenses only.

A payment that must be returned to the provider following specified terms of repayment and interest rate.

Loan

Air Quality

Carbon Capture

Certification

High Tunnel

Landscape

Regenerative

Soil Health

Wildlife & Pollinator Habitat

HVAC

Lighting

Repairs

Certified Organic

Certified Grassfed

Cover Crops

Reduced Tillage

Infrastructure

Disaster Relief

Conservation

Emergency

Up to $250,000. Typical term 12–24 months, structured to reimbursement, generally payable in full after program completion. Rates 7.75%–10.75%. Typical approval time 2–3 weeks after a complete application.

Apply through CFRA's secure online lending system or a PDF application (English/Spanish). Required documents: photo ID, proof of income, business and personal bank statements and tax returns, business financials, personal financial statement, and a business plan for new businesses.

Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) provides affordable, equitable, flexible financing to strengthen the local food system, small businesses, and sustainable agriculture. Funds can be used for working capital, marketing, bookkeeping, insurance, inventory; equipment and infrastructure (processing, storage, fencing, fixtures, buildings, irrigation); purchasing an existing business; or purchasing vehicles, business real estate, or other long-term assets.



Available to farmers, food business entrepreneurs, start-ups, retail businesses, and other food supply chain businesses. Applicants must be at least 19 years old. Available throughout Nebraska; may also be offered in other states depending on funding.

Farmers Market

Buildings

Construction

Fencing

Greenhouse

Irrigation

Storage

Distribution

Diversification

Events

Trade Show

Trade Relief

Food Systems

Maximum loan amount $250,000. Terms up to 15 years based on use of funds and borrower needs. Interest rates 7.75%–10.75% with a closing fee of 1–5%.

Applications are accepted through this secure online lending system.


Center for Rural Affairs — General

Are you starting or expanding a small business in Nebraska? Do you need just a little bit more working capital? Have you tried, but&#x2004;have been unsuccessful in getting a traditional bank loan? Our small business loans may be your answer.


To serve a more diverse set of clients, our underwriting process is more flexible than traditional lenders. For example, CFRA can work with you if you have little or no credit history, are just starting your business, or if you are in an industry that is difficult for traditional banks to underwrite.


Loans can be used for working capital, equipment, inventory, and real estate.



Are you starting or expanding a small business in Nebraska? Do you need just a little bit more working capital? Have you tried, but have been unsuccessful in getting a traditional bank loan? Our small business loans may be your answer.

To serve a more diverse set of clients, our underwriting process is more flexible than traditional lenders. For example, CFRA can work with you if you have little or no credit history, are just starting your business, or if you are in an industry that is difficult for traditional banks to underwrite.

Loans can be used for working capital, equipment, inventory, and real estate.

Open to individual business owners — the Center for Rural Affairs is a nonprofit CDFI lender, not a grant program with an entity list.

Who it is for, verbatim: "Are you starting or expanding a small business in Nebraska? Do you need just a little bit more working capital? Have you tried, but have been unsuccessful in getting a traditional bank loan? Our small business loans may be your answer."

Where: Nebraska. That is the only geography the loan pages state.

Underwriting, and this is the point of the program: "To serve a more diverse set of clients, our underwriting process is more flexible than traditional lenders. For example, we can work with you if you have little or no credit history, are just starting your business, or if you are in an industry that is difficult for traditional banks to underwrite." So no minimum credit score, no years-in-business minimum, and no prior-bank-denial requirement is published — a startup with no credit file is explicitly in scope.

Who the Center prioritizes: "The Center for Rural Affairs is a nonprofit, mission-driven lender focusing on underserved communities, primarily to rural, Latino, Native, and other communities that mainstream finance doesn't traditionally reach. We are a Community Development Financial Institute, certified by the U.S. Treasury." This is a stated focus, not a published exclusion. All services are offered in English and Spanish.

Two products, different sizes. Small Business Loans run "$1,000 to $250,000" for "working capital, equipment, inventory, and real estate." Express Loans are "designed for new and returning borrowers with credit needs of $20,000 or less" and are "underwritten on credit score and two personal bank statements allowing for fast decisions."

What Express Loans require you to produce: a completed application; "Government-issued ID for each borrower"; "Proof of business legal name and address: a utility bill, signed lease agreement, government-issued incorporation/organization document, or other document providing proof of business legal name and address"; "Two personal bank statements: most recent months available from borrower's primary checking account"; and a "Funding Source Eligibility Statement (provide at prequalification stage)" — the contents of that statement are not published, so ask your loan specialist what it asks for.

No acreage, commodity, farm-size, or income test applies — this is business lending, not a farm program. If your borrowing is specifically farm or food related, note that the Center runs separate Food & Farm loan products (including meat processing and bridge loans) with their own pages; this record's terms are the small-business line. Apply through the secure online lending system, or contact a loan specialist — 402.687.2100.

- Prequalify in 2 days
- Affordable interest rate
- 1 to 15 year terms with fixed rate

Contact Meg Jackson (402.603.0026, megj@cfra.org) or complete CFRA's initial intake form. Required documents include business financials, tax returns, proof of ownership, sources-and-uses schedule, business plan, personal financial statement/tax returns, and an environmental review if required. All loans require USDA concurrence on the underwriting recommendation.

Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) loans, established under the USDA Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program, fund equipment, facilities, and working capital for existing, expanding, or start-up meat processors — covering business expansion or start-up, real estate purchase, facility updates, equipment purchase, energy efficiency upgrades, purchase of an existing business, and working capital.



Available to primary (slaughter) and secondary (cut, pack, value-added) meat processors that are USDA inspected or have a plan to seek USDA inspection. Available in Nebraska, and regionally/nationally depending on funding availability. Custom-exempt facilities are not eligible here (they are directed to CFRA's general small-business loans instead).

Loans range $50,000–$2,000,000. Rates anticipated between 5–7% (as of August 2026); closing fee 1–3% of loan amount; no prepayment penalty. Amortization 1–20 years depending on use (working capital/construction 1–3 years; equipment/facility upgrades 3–15 years; construction/real estate 10–20 years). Minimum 10–20% owner equity required for start-ups. Collateralized by business or personal assets.

'For more information, contact Daniel Padilla, danielp@cfra.org, 402.380.3681.' Required documents (partial): evidence of other construction financing and permanent financing, project pro forma, sources and uses, business/project plan, business and personal tax returns/financial statements for guarantors. Borrower sign-in via cfra.myloanpanel.com.

Deadline text on the page: No deadline; 'The Center for Rural Affairs is seeking to make an initial $10 million in loans to support solar projects up to 10 MW in size.' Blog announcing the product dated 07.23.2026.

Lending inbox

Daniel Padilla

Director of climate lending

Construction loans (primary focus), loans to enable investment-tax-credit safe harboring, and working capital for qualified solar businesses, for community or business solar arrays up to 10 MW. The solar index page frames the product for 'a residential rooftop, a rural farm or commercial operation.' Projects must be in Nebraska, with limited ability to consider well-qualified projects elsewhere; loans can be structured as participations with an existing construction lender.



Construction loans for community or business solar arrays up to 10MW in size. Funded projects must conform to Build America, Buy America (BABA) and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) requirements when applicable; loans less than $250,000 are generally exempt from both. For projects located in Nebraska, with limited ability to consider well-qualified projects elsewhere.

Rates 4%–7% by risk/complexity/size; 1% closing fee (waivers possible); term = construction period, in select cases conversion to mini-perm or permanent financing; collateral may be equipment/assets purchased, business assets, corporate or personal guarantees; participation with an existing construction lender preferred for larger loans.

Published amounts: Loans from $100,000 to $3,000,000 with exceptions for well-qualified projects. Rates of 4% to 7% with rate determination based on risk, complexity and loan size. Loan closing fee of 1%.

List of Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) Funding Opportunities