The state has announced $240,000 in additional relief funding was made available through two new Coronavirus Agriculture Assistance Programs that launched this past Friday, Oct. 16.
Farmers Market Relief
The Farmers Market Relief program will provide up to $2,000 to markets that suffered economic harm as a result of the global pandemic. Markets must have earned less than $10,000 in gross revenue in 2019. Markets that earned more can apply for relief through the Agriculture & Working Lands Relief program.
Farm to School Relief
The Farm to School Relief program will reimburse schools and licensed early childcare providers for equipment or supply purchases that were necessitated by the pandemic and that support the goals of farm to school. Those goals include local food procurement, school gardens and agriculture and nutrition education. Eligible applicants can receive up to $10,000.
The joint application will allow organizations to apply for funding from the Agency of Education’s Covid Relief program as well, which covers equipment and/or supplies for school meal programs.
In addition to these two new programs, both the Agriculture & Working Lands and the Dairy Relief programs are reopening this week. The deadline for these programs has been extended to Nov. 15 and eligibility has been expanded for Agriculture &Working Lands. Eligibility changes include: Sole proprietors are now eligible to apply and businesses with a net profit between March 2020 and August 2020 can now apply.
