Beginning Farmer Equipment and Infrastructure Grant

A beginning farmer is defined as a person who:

• Seeks entry or who entered into farming within the last 10 years.
• Provides the majority of labor and management on a farm.
• Has some farming experience and knowledge.

Only individual beginning farmers are eligible to apply for this grant.

The individual may be the owner of a farm, but this is not a requirement.

Only one application will be accepted per farm and per person. In the case that two individuals share a household, but both are beginning farmers associated with different farms, then both could apply.

Through this grant, beginning farmers can pay for:

• Farm-specific equipment purchase or lease.

• Farm infrastructure development costs.

“Farm-specific” refers to equipment that is designed to carry out a function related to a farm activity. This can be contrasted with general purpose equipment.

The grant will not fund:

• General purpose equipment and supplies, for example office supplies, computer, tablet or smart phone purchases, and non-farm specific vehicles.

• Improvements to residential infrastructure located on a farm.

• Value-added equipment or infrastructure development that is related to processing farm products. For support with this type of expense, see the AGRI Value-Added Grant Program.

See the Request for Proposals(PDF) for more information about eligible and ineligible expenses. 

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, 2024.

Apply for this grant through the MDA's online application system.  

• If you’re a new user, you need to create an account first.
• Once you’re logged in, select “Beginning Farmer Equipment and Infrastructure Grant.”
• Contact us if you need this information in a different format.

Before applying, read the RFP.

For questions on the grant program or application, submit them in writing before 11:59 p.m. CT on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, to MDA grant specialist Emily Toner at beginning.farmer.grant.mda@state.mn.us. 

To consider what type of request might score higher in the grant review process,  take a look at how applications will be evaluated, on page 7 of the RFP, the "Application Evaluation Profile."

That table gives a breakdown of the scoring categories, so you could weigh your different ideas based on how you think they might be scored there.

No. You do not need to own the land where you do the infrastructure improvements. In fact, the grant gives preference to "limited land access" farmers. See full definition of limited land access on page 8 in the grant's request for proposals PDF.

No, the grant funds may only be used for future purchases that are agreed upon in a grant contract with the MDA, and the purchase must occur after the contract is signed by you and MDA. 

If you propose a purchase or infrastructure investment in your application, do not make those investments before hearing back about the application result. The MDA is not able to reimburse you for costs that occur before a grant contract with us is signed (estimated to be no sooner than January 2025).

Installing drainage tile is an infrastructure investment and, as long as the tile is laid for the purpose of agricultural production, it would be eligible.

The grant applicant would need to meet the other eligibility requirements which include being a beginning farmer based in Minnesota. 

Vehicles that are general purpose, like a pickup truck, are not eligible expenses for this grant.

To think through whether or not a piece of equipment is farm-specific, ask: could it easily be used off the farm for non-farm related tasks? That is what will be assessed by the review committee on all applications.

Yes, you can still apply. The grant gives a preference to beginning farmers with less than $100,000 gross farm product sales in the most recent tax year, but that is not an eligibility requirement. 

In order to determine the gross farm product sales from 2023 using Schedule F (cash method), please follow this approach:

• Add Line 1c to Line 2, and then if Lines 3a or 3b includes per unit retains that were not included in Line 2, also add those to the gross farm product sales to get the total. If 3a and 3b are blank, just add 1c and 2 together and this will be your gross farm product sales from 2023.

No, there are not points or preference awarded for submitting an application ahead of others. All applications submitted between September 24 - November 21, 2024 will get full consideration by the grant committee. 

Grant applications are evaluated based on the scoring breakdown provided on page 7 of the Request for Proposals PDF. Both the review committee and commissioner may also consider geographic distribution, diversity in agricultural enterprise, applicant's history as a state grantee, and capacity to perform the work in their decisions.

The grant program uses the language “entered into farming within the last 10 years” to define eligibility on this point. Because 2024 is not complete, people who entered into farming in 2014 or after may apply for this grant.

After a successful applicant signs the grant contract with the MDA, they will have no more than two years from the date the contract is signed, or a deadline of June 2027 (whichever comes first), to use the funds awarded to them.

Yes, fencing supplies and installment costs for agricultural crops are eligible. The fencing could be either permanent or temporary/portable.

If you are looking for technical assistance related to fencing installation and supply costs, consider contacting: 

• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife Damage Management Program at 218-203-4336

If you are contributing your labor to a farm business that has been filing taxes for more than 10 years, unfortunately you will not qualify for this grant.

Keep in mind that you need to be providing the majority of labor and management on a farm to apply for this grant.

Applications will not be moved from full grant into mini grant, applications will only be considered at the level they are submitted.

​​​​​​Both the mini and full grant applications will be judged on their merit. The mini grants will be judged first and half of the funds are reserved for these grants. Any remaining funds after the mini grants are awarded will be moved into the funds for the full grants.

The MDA expects to award $800,000 using a competitive review process.

No, you may not purchase from a direct family member with this grant. Direct family in this case is defined by Internal Revenue Code, section 267(c)(4) which includes, spouse, sisters and brothers including step-sister and step-brothers, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren.

The project cost can exceed the grant amount. You can suggest using the funds for a portion of a purchase or infrastructure improvement, and then it would be beneficial to explain your plan for financing the remainder of the expenses.

"Incubator farm" means a farm where:

(1) individuals are given temporary, exclusive, and affordable access to small parcels of land, infrastructure, and often training, for the purpose of honing skills and launching a farm business; and

(2) a majority of the individuals farming the small parcels of land grow industrial hemp, cannabis, or one or more of the following specialty crops as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture for purposes of the specialty crop block grant program: fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, medicinal plants, culinary herbs and spices, horticulture crops, floriculture crops, and nursery crops.

This definition was provided by the Minnesota State Legislature.

In scoring an application, an applicant is given up to 10 points for meeting the definition of experiencing limited land access, which includes farming on an incubator farm.

Yes, as long as this is an activity related to a beginning farmer's business, and not a personal hobby.

It is true that what you look at during the application period regarding used listings may no longer be available when the grant is awarded. We understand that, and it is still useful to quote specific used equipment listings in your application so that you can show the market value of what you are proposing to buy.

It is recommended to save the quotes into a document and upload it as an attachment using the button for attachments under the “Budget Narrative” text box. This is in case the listing is gone before the review committee tries to access it online.

Six-row no till planter would be specific enough for the application. This gives flexibility to choose exact make and model after the grant is awarded.

This criteria is for the review committee to rate your application according to the type of impact the grant would have on your farm in a way that it can be compared across other applications. A "sustained" impact would be one where the value of the equipment or infrastructure is still occurring into the future of the farm, and not just a one-time impact the year of the purchase and have no further value after that.

The focus on "transformative" in that criteria is asking the applicant to explain in what way would this investment make a major improvement or change for their farm. In other words, how would this grant award transform your farm in some way?

See the full scoring rubric on page 7 of the Request for Proposals, under the header "Application Evaluation Profile."

It is not allowed to pay direct family members for services (or equipment purchases) with this grant.

If your full list of expenses is less than 20 items, use the budget table. If the list exceeds 20 items, you may use one line of the budget table to name the project work and, under source of estimate for that item, write “Company that gave quote, see attachment for detailed quote.” Then attach the full list with itemized expenses using the attachment button under the budget narrative text box.

The rate is the cost per unit. When you have only one unit, the rate and the total amount are the same.