PASA Sustainable Agriculture: Conservation Practices & Business Development and Marketing

>> Enroll in PASA’s AMP project here.  

PASA’s AMP project provides technical assistance and implementation funding to help Northeast farmers adopt or expand regenerative practices while strengthening farm viability and expanding market opportunities. PASA will enroll up to 2000 producers between South Carolina and Maine and distribute approximately $34 million directly to farmers through 2027. 

Business Development and Marketing Activities: Grants up to $15,000 are available for business development and marketing activities. This funding bucket is broad and designed to help farmers meet a wide array of business development and marketing needs. See more information below. 

Conservation Practices: Financial support up to $55,000 to implement a suite of NRCS Conservation Practices. Once enrolled, a PASA Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) will work with you to plan and map and then sign a contract for the planned work. . There are 36 eligible practices including agroforestry practices, fencing (including exclusion fencing), high tunnels, livestock shelters, soil carbon amendment, and micro irrigation. See a complete list of eligible practices below.  

Note: The response time from Pasa and the overall enrollment– to– contract timeline is uncertain, and there have been delays due to the volume of submissions and staffing issues at the MA NRCS field offices. The application takes 20-30 minutes to complete. If you plan to request funding for conservation practices, you will need to provide an FSA farm number on the form. If you do not have an FSA number, contact your local FSA office here.  

Please see additional basic information about the Pasa AMP program and process below the list of eligible NRCS practices.  

Eligible Business Development and Marketing Activities 

Eligible activities include the purchase of supplies and activities that strengthen businesses, increase yield, protect crops, expand production, strengthen or expand market channels, and more.  

• Business Development and Planning: business or feasibility plans, brand development, product labels, boxes, retail packaging, professional photography for business purposes. 

• Brand Building and Marketing: website design and launch, online store and market development, professionally printed brochures, flyers, pamphlets, and weather-resistant signs for fields or market stands. 

• Market and Event Material: tables, racks, shelves, chairs, coolers, branded tablecloths, sales software (Shopify, Square, etc.), and hardware (tablets and card readers). 

• Food Safety, Certifications, and Planning: certification fees, professionally developed operational manuals, food safety plans, creation of standard operating procedures. 

• Wash/Pack Station and Post-Harvest Handling: equipment with stainless steel surfaces, drainage mats, greens spinner, stock tanks, root washers, bulk containers, totes, and scales. 

• Cooling, Storage, and Logistics: coolbots, air conditioners, chest freezers, CO2 monitors, hydrometers, thermostats, storage racks, dollies, and pallet jacks. 

• Product Protection Supplies: bug/bird netting, tarps, low tunnels, anchors, sandbags.  

Eligible Conservation Practices 

See the list below of the 36 NRCS Conservation practices that can be funded. Once enrolled, a PASA Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) will work with you to plan, budget, and contract for practices that meet your needs. The timeline for working through the contracting process for conservation practices could be quite long, so we encourage farms to complete the Pasa application form as soon as possible.  

PASA AMP Basics

PASA AMP Basics

PASA AMP Basics

• You need to have an account with FSA to access the Business & Marketing and Conservation Practice funding  

• All projects must be completed by January 2028 (for example, a high tunnel funded through this program, must be put up by January 2028 unless the USDA approves an extension to Pasa). 

• Payment Schedule: 80% once you have a signed contract with Pasa and 20% after verification of completion. 

• Every farmer that has a contract through this program will receive an annual $1,500 participation stipend for each year you are enrolled.  

• Applications are accepted on a rolling basis – first come, first serve. 

• Projects and activities need to be connected to a commodity/crop and an FSA mapped field – this can have a flexible interpretation (ie. funding for wash/pack improvements can be connected to the major crop you process and the field it is grown in) and we can help you explain these connections. 

• Pasa is still developing the systems to administer this program, so there could be long lead times between process steps until things are up and running smoothly. 

• USDA will not allow farms to receive funding for the same activity from multiple programs, and Pasa and the organizations managing other AMP programs have systems in place to prevent any appearance of double-dipping. For example, farms that have a contract with Pasa can only enroll with Wolfe’s Neck if they can provide documentation of the field numbers and crops that are enrolled with Pasa.  

>>Enroll in PASA’s AMP project here.