Farmer Resilience Grants

A farmer is seen from afar, approaching a small outbuilding.

NOFA-VT has a pool of funds to distribute directly to farmers as grants to fund projects that will improve longer-term resilience on farms.

Our definition of ‘resilience’ is framed broadly around the mission of NOFA-VT: to promote organic practices to build an economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just Vermont agricultural system that benefits all living things.

In this grant application, applicants will define how these funds will be used to improve the resilience on your farm, in your community, and/or for your broader community, with a focus on the social, environmental, and economic impact of the project. We encourage applicants to review the scoring rubric prior to submitting an application.

Applications are reviewed anonymously (names of farms and farmers removed before review) by a committee of Vermont farmers and farmworkers. Grants are awarded with no need for receipt submission or reporting on behalf of the recipient. We are still accepting multi-farm applications. If you have a team of farms applying, you may request up to $5,000 per farm, with a maximum total request of $20,000. For example, if you have four farms applying together on a collaborative project, you may apply for up to $20,000.

Please contact Avery MacLean, with any questions at [email protected] or (802) 419-0049. Applications will be accepted December 1, 2025 to January 26, 2026.

Apply for a Farmer Resilience Grant

Past Resilience Grant Projects

Hawthorn Meadow Farmstead

Liz Echevarria is growing food for her community on a small scale while staying energy neutral.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/resilience-hawth…

Abenaki Tribal Garden

Chief Shirly Hook and Doug Bent are saving seeds, growing food for their community, and teaching the next generation about the importance of food sovereignty.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/visit-abenaki-tr…

The People's Farmstand

The People's Farmstand is collecting local, organic, and culturally important produce from partnering farms and distributing it at free pop-up farmstands.

https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/other-resources/blog/resilience-peopl…

All 2025 Grantees >

All 2024 Grantees >

All 2023 Grantees >

All 2022 Grantees >

FAQs

Who qualifies for this grant?

Eligibility requirements:

Farms located in Vermont and in business for a minimum of one year.
Must be able to meet the timeline for project completion by December 31st, 2026.
Cannot have received a Vermont Family Farmer of the Month award two years prior to submitting application.
Must hold an active NOFA-VT Membership at any level, including out $1/year Community Tier
Previous Resilience Grant awardees are welcome to apply, but applicants who did not receive a resilience grant in 2024 or 2025 will receive additional points in the scoring rubric.

What projects can this grant cover?

We are particularly interested in projects that:

mitigate against the harmful effects of our changing climate
repair harms that have been committed due to the historic and widespread systemic racism embedded in our food system
are innovative and will encourage others to adopt new and more promising practices
will lead to broader community resilience through enhanced food security, community-based solutions, and connectivity.

That said, we are leaving the definition of resilience intentionally broad so that applicants can share their ideas about resilience with us and to not limit our imagination, as we know resilience takes many forms and we do not want to inadvertently disallow exciting, out of the box ideas!

What makes a "good" grant request?

While no specific project is inherently more likely to receive funding than others, some suggestions for writing a more broadly appealing grant proposal would be to:

View the rubric while writing! Full rubric for application evaluation is available here: Resilience Grant Application Rubric.
Clearly address how your project request relates to building Social, Economic, & Environmental resiliency.
Offer a project budget that is both reasonably accurate & cites material sources. Applicants have the option to upload a detailed budget to the application.

When are applications open?

Applications are open each winter. This year, applications will open at Noon on Monday December 1st, 2025, and will close on Monday, January 26th, 2026 at 11:55pm. We are not able to receive applications after this point. If you'd like to stay alerted on NOFA-VT news, sign up for our email newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Meet the Farmer Resilience Grant Review Committee

Amanda Andrews (she/her)

Amanda Andrews of Tamarack Hollow Farm grows 7 acres of organic vegetables for wholesale distribution in Plainfield, VT. She has been farming since 2007 and has experience raising livestock, poultry, and vegetables for local and regional farmers markets, CSA, and wholesale. Her partner helps on the farm and they have two adorable children that enjoy building forts in the greenhouse and distracting the farm crew.

Dani Grover (they/them)

Dani has been living and working at the intersections of agriculture and open ag technology for over a decade. After years of working on vegetable and dairy farms, often as a draft horse teamster, they and two collaborators purchased 222 acres in Corinth, VT and started Shepherd Moon Farm in 2022. They are building a dairy flock and co-operative creamery business on land which will also host folks engaged in social justice work for organizing, retreat, and respite. Dani has served on the board of the Draft Animal Power Network (DAP-Net), as a network facilitator for the open-source farm tool community, FarmHack, and as a trainer and convener with IfNotNow Pittsburgh, organizing American Jews against the occupation of Palestinian land. Dani is an employee owner of the farmer- and staff-owned Farm Generations Co-operative and helps farmers use the co-operative’s e-commerce software, GrownBy. Dani also loves building and making things, cooking and feeding people, and eating cheese.

Khonsu X (he/him)

Khonsu X is a community organizer, transmission artist, and co-founder and co-steward of Ezili’s Respite Farm & Sanctuary, L3C, est. 2022, on 13.4 acres in the NEK. He is also co-developer and a co-facilitator of the Harm Reduction Heroes © model for intergenerational peer-mentorship programs, both virtual and land-based. In 2024, Khonsu became Co-Lead for Liberation Ecosystem’s Agrarian Cohort. This position was supported by a National Young Farmers initiative, Cultivemos, from 2024-2025, until defunded under the current administration. Khonsu was also instrumental in developing the Farm Skill Share Series for Farmers of The Global Majority, a Liberation Ecosystem initiative with rotating funding sources including Cultivemos (2024) and NOFA-VT (2025). Khonsu spends his days with his husband, two pitbulls, a rescued street cat, an LGD, goats and chickens. His favorite forms of harm reduction are hunting, kayaking and calendula tea.

Sasha Wol-soon Hom (she/her)

Sasha Wol-soon Hom of Bottomless Well is a goat farmer, homeschooling mother of four, organizer, and fiction writer. Her and her family have been living off-grid in tents, tipis, and yurts for over a decade. They recently relocated to a 600-acre land co-op where they raise meat goats for community organizations in an effort to provide culturally relevant food access to food-scarce and displaced families. In her free time, she sometimes sleeps.

We are using the ideas brought forth in these Resilience Grants to advocate for innovative farm-based policy solutions at the state and national level. We will also share the needs expressed in the applications with the broader funding community in an effort to draw more interest and funds into supporting farms as a key solution to building a more resilient food system for our collective future.

Questions?

For more information, assistance with the grant application, or to request translation services or a paper application, please contact Avery MacLean at (802) 419-0049 or by email.

Donate to the Resilience Fund

To make your tax-deductible donation to support our work increasing resilience on farms and in local communities including Resilience Grants, please fill out our donate form and choose 'Resilience Fund' from the campaign drop-down, or mail a check made out to NOFA-VT with 'Resilience Fund' in the memo to PO Box 697, Richmond, VT 05477.

Donate

Looking for other funding opportunities? Check out other grants administered by NOFA-VT.

See All Grants