grant and loan money to fund their dream?

[spring978]

Has anyone done this? I will be taking a grant writing class next month but until then I would like all the information I can find on this subject anyone have any experience?

I would like to have a small to large organic farm that has a community garden and community center for classes and seminars.

[Erinz]

No experience here but did want to offer some encouragement!

Sounds fabulous!

[kimmom]

Great idea
We are in Canada so I am sure things are somewhat different and our situation is different too!
We are using a line of credit and personal loan to build our passive solar cob home. The banks will not lend on cob even though it is engineered and we are building to code!
Some places will look at cob after you are in and have occupancy permit.
As far as grants there is not much out there for what we are doing! Maybe if you are doing community projects it is better but for people building true green homes there is zero incentives at all! They actually make it hard for us.
My husband is in film and TV so we are looking at producing a documentary on our journey to sustainable living and self sufficiency..
Good luck on your journey , it sounds wonderful!!

[Kristin0105]

I was just coming here to find out the same thing. We want to buy the farm I grew up on but I have to buy out my family. Without going into detail just suffice it to say it's not going to be easy and I was hoping for some miracle grant money or other.

When I have searched the internet I have not been successful in finding what I am looking for. If I find anything helpful I'll post it. Please do the same.

[1jooj]

At the very least, I think you need a vision and a business plan in order to go after any sort of funding. There are grants for minority/under-represented groups, specialty value-added producer grants, small farm grants/loans, but typically you need to have a pretty solid plan in place--as you would to get grant or loan funding for any sort of small business, I suppose.

We're self-funding our farm through off-farm jobs. We bought the place with a conventional mortgage and invest our income in developing the farm (and repairing the house!).

Here are a couple links to explore:

USDA

article with a list of suggestions

[MrsSurplus]

Originally Posted by spring978 

Has anyone done this? I will be taking a grant writing class next month but until then I would like all the information I can find on this subject anyone have any experience?

I would like to have a small to large organic farm that has a community garden and community center for classes and seminars.

In my prior-to-SAHM life, grantwriting was one of my tasks where I worked so I have some experience there and DH and I have looked into it a little bit and there's really not a lot out there...and government grants always have strings attached.  The owner of the pumpkin patch next door said that he has to get federal permission if he wants to store any other grass in his partially-grantfunded hay barn he has to get permission from teh government.  But one of my beyond-organic heroes, Joel Salatin, is very much opposed to taking grants for very good reason.  He points out that we are most creative when we are hungry.  We get lazy when we are too flush.  If you haven't heard of him or his amazing practices at Polyface Farms, Google him. (I LOVE his book, "Everything I want to do is illegal."  Oh that such commonsense were in place in DC!)  He's very inspiring!  Whether or not you're going after a grant, a vision and a business plan are essential!