- Author: Nicki Anderson
CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program open until April 4, 2024
The CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program is open until April 4, 2024 and has $52.8 million in funding available.
There are 4 Different Track Options:
Track 4 will fund California food producers and public-serving aggregation and distribution enterprises to increase production, processing, and/or distribution capacity to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to the California school food market.
To be eligible, an applicant must show evidence of an established relationship with each California School Food Authority or childcare center operator of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to which they intend to sell food. Funding will prioritize small to midsized food producers; veteran, socially disadvantaged, and/or limited-resource food producers; and food producers utilizing climate smart agriculture practices, climate smart agriculture production systems like certified organic or transitioning to certified organic, or other regenerative strategies.
Applicants may propose to use funds to:
(1) purchase infrastructure, equipment, and supplies to increase production, processing, and/or distribution capacity to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to schools; and/or
(2) purchase infrastructure, equipment, and supplies to establish or enhance the use of climate smart agriculture practices, production systems, and/or other regenerative strategies when producing California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to sell to schools; and/or
(3) cover staffing costs dedicated to farm to school activities; and/or
(4) pursue certifications, licensures, or insurance that the applicant needs to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to schools; and/or
(5) establish new or expand existing hands-on food education opportunities for students, School Food Authority staff, and/or child care center staff that complement the applicant's existing or project-related California food sales to California schools, such as field trips, producer visits to the cafeteria or classroom, etc
For more information:
CDFA Farm to School Grant webpage
CDFA Farm to School Grant FAQs
Register HERE for the next Q&A zoom session on Thursday, March 28 at 6PM.
Contact the CDFA Office of Farm to Fork team at cafarmtoschool@cdfa.ca.gov
- Author: Heather Montgomery
Just awarded! CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) has released a list of organizations, that have been awarded to the Healthy Soils Program (HSP) and State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) Block Grant Pilot Programs. HSP funds agricultural practices that improve soil health and sequester carbon. SWEEP funds on-farm irrigation efficiency practices that save water and energy.
The organizations awarded block grant funding will now receive the money to disburse to farmers and ranchers in their area. Each organization will be creating program requirements unique to their area. Growers can apply with these awarded organizations just like they do with the traditional solicitations directly through CDFA. They can still use free Technical Assistance expertise to apply to these organizations. The organizations that are awarded block grants, will choose which growers get awarded and then administer the grant for its entirety.
Please look for your county below.
The full list of HSP Block Grant Awardees can be found here: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/docs/HSP_Block_Grant_2023AwardedProjects.pdf
The full list of SWEEP Block Grant Awardees can be found here: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/docs/2023/2023_SWEEP_BGP_Awards_List.pdf
For example: Here's what this means for Sutter-Yuba Growers…
The Colusa Indian Community Council has been awarded the money to disburse for HSP and SWEEP practices. Growers will be able to submit applications to the Colusa Indian Community Council just like they would with CDFA's traditional incentive programs SWEEP and HSP grants. Growers can get help from a local Technical Assistance Provider to apply for these grants. Once growers have applied to the grants when they open, they will receive updates from the Colusa Indian Community Council to learn if they were awarded or not.
CDFA Incentive Grants for HSP and SWEEP
If there are no block grant awardees in your county, you can still apply directly through CDFA's traditional incentive programs for HSP and SWEEP. These grant applications are not currently open, but we expect them to be available later this Fall of 2023.
- Author: Caddie Bergren
Many growers have been asking for updates on upcoming SWEEP and Healthy Soils application rounds. Good news! CDFA has announced that both programs will be open for new applications this fall 2023. We still do not know exact dates, but CDFA did release draft grant proposals for both programs. Here are a few updates for each:
Healthy Soils 2023 will make approximately $32 million available in this round, on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Proposed (but not finalized) changes to the Healthy Soils Program include:
- The maximum award amount will increase from $100,000 to $200,000.
- The reimbursement rates will increase for some practices.
- Mulching is now a one-time practice, instead of an annual application for three years.
To view the full draft grant proposal for Healthy Soils, click here.
Proposed (but not finalized changes) include:
- Parcels that have previously received SWEEP funding are eligible to apply again.
- Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers will be prioritized with a minimum of 25% of funding.
- Strengthened ways to ensure one user does not submit multiple applications. In addition to needing separate tax ID numbers, each application will need a separate mailing address and grant contact.
- Changes to the scoring rubric to prioritize 'well-rounded' projects. (We will have more clarity on this in the final draft)
To view the full draft grant proposal for SWEEP, click here.
As always, if you are interested in applying to SWEEP, you will need to gather three things before beginning an application:
1. Recent pump efficiency test(s)
2. 12 months of energy records for each pump (electric bills and/or fuel logs)
3. Quote(s) for proposed project.
For free assistance in beginning an application or if you have further questions, please contact your local climate-smart agriculture education specialist: https://ciwr.ucanr.edu/Programs/ClimateSmartAg/TechnicalAssistanceProviders/
- Author: Heather Montgomery
- Author: Ana Resendiz
- Author: Michael Jaquez
Many of you might know that the 2023 State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) has been placed on pause due to a deficit in the state budget. This pause will remain in effect until Governor Newsom releases his proposed budget later this summer. There was talk of a possible retraction of funds that could reach back as far as 2023.
On January 10, 2024, Governor Newsom released his budget. At this point, there was a swap of funds with the SWEEP that weren't dispersed yet; therefore, $20.6 million is proposed to be shifted from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which would provide funding for future SWEEP projects.
What does that mean for those who want to apply?
- First off stay on track for getting all your paperwork done if you are still working on it. Then make sure to upload all your paperwork to your computer. This way when it does open you will be ready!
- For some of you, this will give you more time to get your quotes.
- For those of you who are eager to apply. The CDFA Block Grant Pilot program has already distributed the money to several Entities throughout the state and that money will not be retracted. Below is a link to Awarded Entities where you can see if there is one in your area. Each Entity should have free technical assistance to help you with your application. The Block Grant Pilot programs are for SWEEP & Healthy Soils Program (HSP).
2023 Awarded Entities SWEEP Block Grant
2023 Awarded Entities HSP Block Grant
The Climate Smart Agriculture CES Team has put together some details on some of the Entities that are OPEN or soon to open in trying to help some of you come up with some options. With that being said, the CDFA has asked that you don't apply for the Incentive and the Block grant. Some of these are spaced out enough that you should be able to see if you are awarded before applying for another one.
Below are some notes of some options available now or coming up.
These notes do not include all that could be available to you so please see the links above for a more complete list. We will update the Blog when more openings become available.
If you need assistance, please reach out to our team! We are happy to help.
https://ciwr.ucanr.edu/Programs/ClimateSmartAg/TechnicalAssistanceProviders/
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