Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA)

Applicants submit a letter of intent (LOI) on a rolling basis; LOIs are reviewed by the TAFA Board.

Roxana Newton

Economic Development Project Controller

AgDefense provides grants administered by the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) and the Texas Department of Agriculture to fund projects that control agricultural pests, diseases, and depredating animals threatening Texas agriculture.



Eligible applicants are limited to the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Individual farmers and ranchers are not eligible to apply.

A lump sum of money for a specific purpose that does not need to be paid back.

Grant

Inputs

Grant award amounts were not published on the reviewed program page.

Borrower should visit with a lender to see if they are willing to participate in the program. A lender will need to submit the application to the Department on the Borrower's behalf. TDA does not issue any loans. 

Mindy Fryer

Director, Contracts and Grants

**Purpose:**


The Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) Agricultural Loan Guarantee Program (ALG) provides financial assistance to establish or enhance farming or ranching operations or to establish an agricultural-related business. This program provides&#x2004;assistance in the form of guarantees based on a tiered structure, not to exceed $500,000 or 80% of the loan amount, whichever is less.


**TAFA/TDAs Role:**


Funds allocated to TAFA/TDA for the use of the ALG program are used to support the lenders capital and add protection against reasonable risk associated with the loan by honoring a percentage of debt. TAFA is not involved with the negotiation of interest rates, maturity or collateral. TAFA/TDA reviews applications to ensure credibility and eligibility. 



Purpose:

The Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) Agricultural Loan Guarantee Program (ALG) provides financial assistance to establish or enhance farming or ranching operations or to establish an agricultural-related business. This program provides assistance in the form of guarantees based on a tiered structure, not to exceed $500,000 or 80% of the loan amount, whichever is less.

TAFA/TDAs Role:

Funds allocated to TAFA/TDA for the use of the ALG program are used to support the lenders capital and add protection against reasonable risk associated with the loan by honoring a percentage of debt. TAFA is not involved with the negotiation of interest rates, maturity or collateral. TAFA/TDA reviews applications to ensure credibility and eligibility. 

- Open to all agricultural enterprises
- The applicant should discuss the program with his/her lender (including any commercial lending bank or Farm Credit System).
- The lender will submit an application to TAFA on the borrower’s behalf.
- The applicant must meet the lender’s underwriting criteria.
- The lender and borrower determine the loan terms, while TAFA retains the right to alter any loan terms as necessary to provide the guarantee.
- The borrower(s) should have a credit score of 650 or greater
- Equity injection of at least 15% of the loan amount
- Debt to equity of 2:1 or less
- Debt service coverage of 1.25 or better
- TAFA’s guarantee shall not exceed a maximum of 10 years or the useful life of the assets being financed.

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

Loan

- Loan Guarantee Application
- ALG Overview and FAQ
- Master Lender Agreement
- Publications 
- Online Submission Link


Buildings

Construction

Fencing

Greenhouse

High Tunnel

HVAC

Irrigation

Lighting

Repairs

Storage

Guarantee Amounts:

There are two options depending on the terms of the loan:
- $250,000 or 90% of the loan amount, whichever is less 
- $500,000 or 80% of the loan amount, whichever is less.

The duration of a loan guarantee approved by TAFA must not exceed the useful life of the assets being financed or 10 years, whichever is less.

Use of Funds:

A loan guarantee recipient may use loan proceeds for any agricultural related purpose, including:
- Working capital for operating a farm or ranch;
- Lease of facilities;
- Purchase of machinery and equipment; and/or
- Purchase of real estate, as identified in recipient’s documentation submitted in support of the application.

Fees and Application Costs:

A nonrefundable application fee of $100 is due upon filing the application. An origination fee of no less than 1% of the loan guarantee amount will be due within 10 days of the initial funding of each loan. This money is returned to the Texas Agricultural Fund to finance additional guarantees.

Interest Rebate:

Borrowers under the ALG program may be eligible for a rebate of a portion of the interest they pay on the loan. Agricultural Loan Guarantees approved by the Department may be eligible for a rebate of no more than $500 annually, not to exceed the 1% origination fee over the term of the guarantee. The board may adjust the interest rebate within statutory limits. 

Bon Wier

The Interest Rate Reduction (IRR) Program, administered by the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) through the Texas Department of Agriculture, lowers the interest rate on loans used to create or expand an agricultural business in Texas. Following the 2025 HB 43/HB 49 reorganization, the program is open to any person or Texas-based agricultural business and is no longer limited to young farmers.



Any person or Texas-based agricultural business that proposes to use loan proceeds for the creation or expansion of an agricultural business in Texas. There is no age restriction — the former Young Farmer age limits (18–46) no longer apply.

A reduction or waiving of fees for meeting a certain criteria.

Discount

Two authorities set the per-borrower cap: Interest Rate Reduction (Texas Agriculture Code Ch. 44) provides up to $500,000 per borrower; Farmer Interest Rate Reduction (Ch. 58) provides up to $1,000,000 per borrower. Eligible uses: purchase of land or other fixed assets and improvements; capital asset acquisition, including equipment used in an agriculture-related operation; any enterprise based on agriculture; and, when required by the lender to finance an eligible expansion, refinancing of existing debt. The application is completed jointly by the lender and borrower and submitted to TDA; on approval the Texas Comptroller deposits funds once the loan has closed.

No public application, no form and no online portal is published for this program. The route is a phone call to the Texas Department of Agriculture, which administers it, followed by a decision from the TAFA board. Note first who this is for: the borrowers are rural local governments and development entities, not individual farms — if you are a producer looking for credit, TAFA's Agricultural Loan Guarantee Program and Interest Rate Reduction program are the producer-facing doors, and TDA links the USDA Farm Loan Discovery Tool (https://www.farmers.gov/fund/farm-loan-discovery-tool) for federal options.

The one published instruction. The Denison Development Alliance's description of the program — the fullest public write-up of it — says: "The Texas Department of Agriculture administers the Rural Municipal Finance Program. For further details on the program, please contact Karl Young at 512-936-0281." That is the starting point. TDA's general line is (800) TELL-TDA via https://texasagriculture.gov/Home/Contact-Us.

Be aware of the documentation gap. TDA's own TAFA page (https://texasagriculture.gov/Grants-Services/Rural-Economic-Development/Texas-Agricultural-Finance-Authority) does not carry a page, application, form or deadline for this program. It lists TAFA's other programs — Agricultural Loan Guarantee Program, Interest Rate Reduction, Texas Agricultural Grants — and describes the board's job as to "Establish selection criteria for grant applications, lenders and borrowers." So confirm current terms and the current process on that call before assembling anything; do not assume the third-party description is complete.

Intake is not a dated round. No application window, opening date or deadline is published anywhere. Requests are sized case by case — "Loan amounts range from $50,000 to an amount approved by TAFA's board of directors, but target projects for less than $1,000,000" — which means each one goes to the board. TDA posts TAFA board minutes month by month on the TAFA page, which is the practical guide to when decisions get made and how far ahead to file.

What a borrower must be ready to establish

- That it is an eligible entity type: "city and county governments; economic development corporations; hospital districts; rail districts; utility districts; special districts; agricultural districts; and private water and wastewater corporations."
- Evidence of "ability to repay the commitments," and that the project provides "significant benefits for the rural area."
- A rural-location certification to TAFA. The published test is that "An applicant must certify to TAFA that: The project is located in a non-metropolitan statistical area (county); or If in a metropolitan statistical area, the project is in an unincorporated area; or Located in a city with a population of under 20,000, that is not adjoining a city or group of cities with an aggregate population of 50,000 or greater."
- A defined use of proceeds. Eligible uses are "real estate purchase, building construction, site improvements, equipment, water and wastewater systems, municipal infrastructure projects and any other use that can be identified to improve or assist in the economic development of the rural area."

The governing rules, if you need to read the authority behind all of this, are the Texas Agriculture Code, Chapters 44 and 58, and the Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 28.

Texas Agricultural Finance Authority — Economic Development

The Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA), a public authority within the Texas Department of Agriculture, provides loan (and bond) financing on favorable terms to rural political subdivisions and development entities — city and county governments, economic development corporations, and various districts — to support agricultural businesses and rural economic development. Projects must be located in a rural (non-metropolitan) area of Texas.



Institutional/rural-government borrowers located in rural areas of Texas that provide significant benefit to the rural area and evidence of ability to repay: city and county governments; economic development corporations; hospital districts; rail districts; utility districts; special districts; agricultural districts; and private water and wastewater corporations. The applicant must certify the project is located in a rural (non-metropolitan) area. Not for individual agricultural producers.

Infrastructure

Loans (and, where applicable, bonds) from $50,000 up to an amount approved by the TAFA board of directors, with projects targeted at under $1,000,000. Proceeds may fund real estate purchase, building construction, site improvements, equipment, water and wastewater systems, municipal infrastructure, and other projects that support rural economic development. Administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture (program contact: Karl Young, 512-936-0281).

Apply via TDA-GO. Contact TDA's Grants Office at Grants@TexasAgriculture.gov.

The AgLink Continuity Grant Program, administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture through the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA), provides financial assistance to agricultural first handlers — such as cotton gins and grain warehouses — that are recovering from natural disaster-related business disruptions. It is one of the grants under the Texas Agricultural Grant umbrella (HB43).



Eligible applicants are agricultural first handlers, such as cotton gins and grain warehouses, recovering from natural disaster-related business disruptions.

Coronavirus

Trade Relief

Trees

Weather

Wildfire

Drought

Flood

Hurricane

Tornado

Emergency

The Texas Agricultural Finance Authority awarded nearly $22.5 million through the AgLink Continuity Grant Program in its most recent cycle. Applications were due Wednesday, March 18, 2026 by 5:00 PM Central Time.

Applications are submitted via the TDA-GO Online Application System (https://tda-go.intelligrants.com/IGXLogin). Contact Grants@TexasAgriculture.gov or 833-380-8282.

The Agriculture Production Resource Opportunity (AgPro) Grant Program, administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture under the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA), provides funding to help Texas producers improve, expand, and strengthen their agricultural operations through strategic investments in equipment, infrastructure, and efficiency. It is one of two sub-grants under the Texas Agricultural Grant created by HB43 (89th Legislature, 2025).



Eligible applicants are agricultural producers — individuals or entities where 50 percent or greater of their gross income is derived from commercial agricultural production (crops, livestock, forestry, hydroponics, nursery stock, or aquaculture) in Texas.

Awards range from $5,000 to $500,000 with a tiered match requirement: $5,000–$100,000 requires a 10% match; $100,000.01–$250,000 a 20% match; $250,000.01–$500,000 a 30% match. The most recent cycle opened April 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM and closed Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM Central Time.

List of Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) Funding Opportunities