Empowering Growth: Making Greenhouse Financing Accessible By Unveiling USDA Programs & Grant Opportunities!

grant funding for greenhouses

The number one hurdle we hear about from farmers, businesses, and anyone interested in building a greenhouse, is cost. As such, we have decided to dedicate a larger share of our company focus to assisting prospective clients with greenhouse financing. We don’t want lack of capital to be the barrier for starting or maintaining your greenhouse operation.

 

Where to begin?

There is so much information out there about grants and financing, but finding the right information and knowing how to navigate and understand what is right for your business is tricky. This blog will outline a few new(ish) programs that are more specific and, hopefully helpful, to the broadest base of our prospective clients. We decided to share them here and not attach them to our more permanent finance page because, as with most things money-related, they are timely. That is also why we have decided to create a newsletter specific to finance-related topics. This new newsletter will include grant opportunities, new programs to look out for, the introduction of grant writers, grant writing assistance programs, and any other information that is specific to the number one constraint for anyone looking to start or expand an agricultural business (or home garden)! 

Scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up for our new finance resources & opportunities newsletter

Now let’s highlight a couple of new(ish) USDA agriculture focused programs/offices…

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

NIFA provides both leadership and funding to programs that further the science of agriculture by supporting programs and initiatives with a long-term focus on agriculture. NIFA is one of four agencies under the mission area of Research, Education and Economics (REE) of the USDA. NIFA supports REE through competitive grants, non-competitive grants, and formula grants. In order to meet the agency’s goals they look for innovative ways to:

  • Meet the growing global food demand
  • Fight hunger and food insecurity in vulnerable populations
  • Develop regional systems for sustainable production of optimal biomass
  • Strengthen educational capacity to prepare the next generation of scientists, agricultural producers, and educators

*Bullet points pulled directly from the NIFA website. To read about many of the other goals visit the NIFA site here

USDA grant programs for greenhouses

To get started with understanding who NIFA is and what they offer, we suggest reviewing their website. Our new finance newsletter will also cover updates, new initiatives, and grant opportunities released by NIFA as they become available. 

We also suggest perusing this list, which houses a list of NIFA programs and their main contacts. From here you can view what ag programs and grants are available through NIFA. 

The Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP)

The mission of the UAIP is to support urban, small-scale, and innovative producers as part of the USDA’s mission to aid agriculture in all forms. This office works across the necessary USDA agencies to update programs by communicating with stakeholders to determine the needs of producers. 

Specific grants related to UAIP can be found here

We recognize that many of our prospective greenhouse clients are either urban and/or small-scale. The office of UAIP is a great resource, and has helped Ceres growers in the past 

urban agriculture financing grants for greenhouses

On March 19, 2024 the UAIP announced that the USDA is now accepting applications for grants to “support urban agriculture and innovative production.” Application are due April 9, 2024 and should be submitted to grants.gov

More information about this grant can be found here

Grant Writing Assistance Programs

Planning and writing a grant can be daunting and difficult. To ease this process we also thought it would be worth mentioning that there are resources available to help. NIFA offers technical assistance events to help applicants better understand different funding opportunities. 

Check out NIFA’s Grant Training/Technical Assistance page to learn more

Summary

Greenhouses can cost a pretty penny (especially the good ones). We understand that raising capital as a small business or farmer is hard work, which is why it is our goal to provide as much research and information assistance as we can. 

Please check out the resources we listed above, sign up for our new newsletter, check out our financing resources page, and then reach out when you are ready to explore your future greenhouse design.

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