2017 Grantee, Tenita Solanto of Green Panda Farms from the Agricultural Reinvestment Fund award ceremony. Pictured with TTFC program manager, Jeff Camden (far left), Agricultural Reinvestment Fund project manager, Ben Paynter (left), and RAFI executive director, Scott Marlow (far right).
The Agricultural Reinvestment Fund is entering its 20th year in providing cost-share grants to innovative farmer-led projects in North Carolina. Each year, this competitive grant program selects a handful of farmers who have amazing ideas that focus on innovation, enterprise development, and growing a successful, sustainable family farm business. Farmers represented in the 27 projects for this year’s grant cycle are in counties that span from central NC to the northeastern counties, from Davie to Northampton.
Originally called the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund when it was initiated in 1997, the Agricultural Reinvestment Fund has helped more than 600 farmers and collaborative groups of farmers transition from tobacco and other traditional commodities to other sustainable and profitable enterprises. The program has helped beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers in historically tobacco dependent communities scale up their operations to become more economically viable. It’s also enabled them to demonstrate new ideas for farm profitability to other farmers in their community.
The Rural Advancement Foundation International is proud of its long-standing relationship with the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, which graciously supports this cost-share grant program.
Click here to learn about this year’s Agricultural Reinvestment Fund projects and stay tuned for more stories and updates from the field!