APR Improvement Program (AIP) provides business planning, technical assistance, and grants to commercial farms with land that has already been protected through MDAR’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program to help sustain active commercial farming on the land.
Donor Name: Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant | Reimbursement
Deadline: 04/18/2024
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The purpose of AIP is to help improve the productivity and profitability of participating farms to enhance the significance of APR farm operations and their contribution to the state’s agricultural industry.
Grants funds of $90,000 – $150,000 may be available on a cost reimbursement basis, with a 10% match, for capital infrastructure improvements on the farm identified through the AIP planning process. Examples of uses of grant funds include new or improved agricultural buildings, such as barns, livestock housing, farmstands or processing facilities, or resource improvements, such as wells, establishing perennial crops or fencing. The program may also provide additional technical assistance in identified areas of need such as family succession, marketing, or financial tracking to help increase farm viability.
Uses of funds
Funds must be used for approved contracted labor and/or materials towards capital improvements that will help maintain or enhance the APR farm property. Eligible uses of funds include resource improvements, such as irrigation, fencing or establishing perennial crops, or new or improved agricultural infrastructure on the farm property, such as hay or equipment storage barns, livestock housing, or retail farmstands.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible respondents must be active operators of farmland that has been protected through funding from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program for at least the past 3 years. Eligible farms must be private for-profit operations with Gross farm income of at least $40,000, as shown on Schedule F or Form 1120, or other relevant tax statements from the most recent tax year. Eligibility requirements may vary from year to year and can be found during open application periods in the Request for Responses for the APR Improvement Program.
For more information, visit MDAR.