On Tuesday, June 14, USDA’s Risk Management Agency released its Request for Applications (RFA) for the Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program. Approximately $3.5 million in funds is available for the program. Projects will be funded for up to one year, and will range from $20,000 to $100,000 per project.
This Request for Applications (RFA) announcement is for a combination of the programs previously known as the ‘‘Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions’’ and the ‘‘Community Outreach and Assistance Partnerships Program.’’ The purpose of this combined cooperative partnership agreements program is to deliver crop insurance education and risk management training to U.S. agricultural producers and to assist them in identifying and managing production, marketing, legal, financial, and human risk.
Projects must fall into one of the Special Emphasis Topics, as follows:
- Legal — Farm Succession Planning
- Marketing — Marketing Strategies; Farm Products Branding; Farmers Markets
- Financial — Financial Tools and Planning; Farm Management Strategies
- Human — Farm Labor; Farm Safety; Food Safety, Risk Management Education to Students
- Production — Irrigation; Erosion Control Measures; Good Farming Practices; Wildfire Management; Forest Management; Range Management; plus crop and revenue insurance products including AGR and AGR-Lite, Livestock Gross Margin Dairy, Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Rainfall and/or Vegetative Index, Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions (‘‘COMBO’’), Enterprise Units, Specialty Crops, Prevented Planting, or Other Existing Crop Insurance Programs.
Furthermore, projects must demonstrate that education or training will be provided to at least one of the following Producer Types:
- Producers and Rancher
- Producers located in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Georgia
- New and Beginning Farmers
- Women Producers and Ranchers
- Hispanic Producers and Ranchers
- African American Producers and Ranchers
- Native American Producers and Ranchers
- Limited Resource Producers and Ranchers
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Producers and Ranchers
- Transitional Farmers and Ranchers
- Senior Farmers and Ranchers
- Small Acreage Producers
- Specialty Crop Producers
- Returning Military Veterans Producers and Ranchers
There are eight offices around the country that will manage the program, and applicants apply to a specific office based on the project location.
- Billings, Montana Regional Office: MT, ND, SD, and WY
- Davis, California Regional Office: AZ, CA, HI, NV, and UT
- Jackson, Mississippi Regional Office: AR, KY, LA, MS, and TN
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Regional Office: NM, OK, and TX
- Raleigh, North Carolina Regional Office: CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, and WV
- Spokane, Washington Regional Office: AK, ID, OR, and WA
- Springfield, Illinois Regional Office: IL, IN, MI, and OH
- St. Paul, Minnesota Regional Office: IA, MN, and WI
- Topeka, Kansas Regional Office: CO, KS, MO, and NE
- Valdosta, Georgia Regional Office: AL, FL, GA, SC, and Puerto Rico
Applications are accepted online via grants.gov and the deadline is July 14, 2011.