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Applications for New England Regenerative Livestock Farming Grant Open October 1st  

$10,000 grants for livestock farmers in select VT, NH, MA and CT counties 

Northampton, MA—American Farmland Trust opens applications for the Brighter Future Fund’s New England Regenerative Livestock Farming Grants on October 1, 2024. This opportunity is intended to address key barriers faced by New England livestock farmers when adopting regenerative agriculture or soil health practices. Applications open October 1 and close November 29 at 5pm ET.  

The Brighter Future Fund’s New England Regenerative Livestock Farming Grants provide up to $10,000 to livestock producers in select counties in CT, MA, NH, and VT. These grants provide support for projects that improve soil health through the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices, and fund projects that include fencing, cover crop seeds, reduced tillage equipment, irrigation, pasture establishment, pollinator habitat, and other conservation practices. 

AFT has been making direct grants to farmers in New England since 2020. Over $2 million dollars and more than 350 New England farmers have been awarded since AFT’s grantmaking initiatives began in the region. This year, over $800,000 is available to livestock producers who seek support with field-based conservation practice projects that improve soil health, water quality, and pollinator habitat. Eligible producers are encouraged to apply.  

Rachel and Daniel Patterson of Headwaters Homestead LLC were recipients of a Regenerative Livestock Farming Grant in 2023. They were awarded $10,000 to build a mobile shelter to facilitate rotational grazing on their Cheshire County, New Hampshire farm. They said, “The funds allowed us to build a portable run-in shelter to provide summer shade and winter windbreak. This shelter would have been too cost prohibitive to build in the current inflationary time when everything is more expense: seeds, fertilizer, fuel, etc. The portable nature of the shelter and the fencing allow us to better rotationally graze our animals and avoid wet areas of our property. None of this would have been possible without the funds.” 

In describing the value of these grants Alissa White, Deputy Director for AFT New England, said, “In my experience, most farmers care deeply about their land and are motivated to be the best stewards they can be. Giving them the agency and flexibility to determine how they can make environmental improvements on their farm and what they need in order to make those changes makes sense on many levels. These microgrants do just that, and that flexibility is one of the reasons that farmers appreciate these grants so much. When farmers design those changes themselves, they are more likely to align with their farm business plans, their family needs and their livelihoods, and help ensure that those changes will last.” 

The New England Regenerative Livestock Grants are part of a larger regional project in New England which aims to support the farmers in adopting regenerative agriculture and conservation practices in the Connecticut River Valley called the Western New England Regenerative Agriculture Regional Conservation Partnership Project. The project offers financial assistance, conservation planning, education, and advanced technical assistance to livestock producers in Connecticut River watershed counties. 

Note: We’ve recently centralized and rebranded grantmaking at American Farmland Trust (AFT). Our New England Farmer Microgrants Program (NEFMP) is now administered under AFT’s larger grant-making umbrella, the Brighter Future Fund (BFF). The former Farmland Access, Succession, and Transfer Support (“FAST”) grant was administered in Summer 2024 as part of this national program. For information on these and other opportunities, please visit https://farmland.org/brighterfuture/.  

Questions can be directed to Kristen Irvin, Program Associate: kirvin@farmland.org. 

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American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.