Grant Funding Available Through USDA’s Advancing Markets for Producers Program

Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) projects are re-configured USDA Climate Smart Commodities Program funds that provide incentive payments to producers to implement conservation practices and business development and marketing activities that expand and grow markets for their products. 

Several AMP funding opportunities are open to New England farmers, check the links and read below for more information: 

• Wolfe’s Neck Center’s Northeast Farmers Fund will offer funding offer up to $50,000 for equipment and market access activities and will be open for applications October 1-14. More info here.

• Pasa Sustainable Agriculture’s AMP project will fund up to $55,000 for eligible NRCS conservation practices (see list of eligible practices below) and business development and marketing activities. The application is currently open. More info here.

• The Nature Conservancy’s Expanding Agroforestry Program AMP project is tailored to fund large scale agroforestry projects up to $450,000. The first round of grant applications is under review, and farms can apply for a second round in winter or spring 2027. More info here.

>>CISA staff is available to help you navigate these opportunities. Email stephen@buylocalfood.org to set up a meeting or call.

Wolfe’s Neck Center – Northeast Farmers Fund

>> Enroll in WNC’s Northeast Farms Fund here between Oct 1-14, 2026 

The Northeast Farmers Fund (NEFF), a program of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, provides funding, technical assistance, and soil analysis to help Northeast farmers adopt or expand regenerative practices while strengthening farm viability and market opportunities. The NEFF is funded collaboratively by public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders.  

Through support from a USDA Advancing Market for Producers Program grant, NEFF will enroll 385 producers across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York and distribute approximately $21.9 million directly to farmers through 2027. 

Funding can support projects related to regenerative production, including equipment, infrastructure, and tools to expand scale and diversity of products; certification and verification; post-harvest handling and value-added processing; and marketing, branding, packaging, and distribution improvements that help farms access new or higher-value markets. NEFF is particularly focused on supporting small- and mid-sized farms that are implementing or transitioning toward regenerative or sustainable production. 

Sign up for alerts about this and other NEFF grant opportunities here. 

Who’s eligible? Farms that: 

• Operate in the Northeast region (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, NY, CT) 

• Are small to mid-sized (between $50,000 and $2,000,000 annual gross farm income) 

• Are working to improve soil health, pasture management, and/or conservation practices 

• Are actively implementing conservation practices  (ex. NRCS Practices, Organic Systems
  Plan, etc.) 

• Are interested in, actively pursuing, or currently maintain sustainability-focused production systems certification, such as organic certification 

• Are interested in expanding market access for regenerative farm products and/or value-added products 

• Have a Farm Service Agency farm number 

Funding guidelines and an application form preview can be reviewed here. The first application round will be open for two weeks. Wolfe’s Neck will assess demand following this initial round and may offer additional application rounds based on available funding and program capacity. 

Note: If you have an AMP project with Pasa, you will not be eligible to apply for the Wolfe’s Neck Northeast Farmer Fund opportunity unless you have documentation of which field numbers and commodities are enrolled with Pasa. 

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. 

The Nature Conservancy: Expanding Agroforestry Project

The current application cycle for this program is closed as of August 12, 2026. Applicants should expect to be notified of their application status in October 2026. The next application cycle will be announced shortly, check here for updates.  

Currently, agroforestry accounts for less than 2% of agricultural lands in the United States. The Expanding Agroforestry Project aims to establish tens of thousands of acres of new agroforestry plantings across 30 states over the next three years. Three specific agroforestry practices, alley-cropping, silvopasture and windbreaks can be funded.  

Grantees will receive funding for technical assistance, practice implementation incentives payments and building market partnerships. The program is intended to deliver measurable environmental benefits while creating a scalable model for adoption across millions of acres nationwide.