In September of 2015, the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture (USDA) announced that $2.5 million would be made available from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) for projects to educate new and under-served farmers about the more than 20 FSA programs that can provide financial, disaster or technical assistance.
As a result of the funding availability, a limited number of grants would be available for nonprofit organizations as well as publicly funded higher education facilities. Proposals would be accepted on a variety of topics including financial training, crop production practices, recordkeeping, and property inheritance. FSA held two evaluation periods where proposals were accepted.
During the second evaluation period, FSA received 123 proposals and funded only 37% of them. HMI is happy to announce that we were one of the organizations funded, with an award in the amount of $35,000. This will help fund seven Open Gate events in Texas, New York, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Oregon. The first event will take place in the Austin, Texas area in April, with the final Open Gate in the series taking place in Blooming Grove, Texas. Area FSA managers will be in attendance at all of the events, providing participants with FSA information and resources.
We are very pleased to be a part of this program, and would like to thank FSA for supporting the work that we do.
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