On Wednesday, November 2nd, the regional Risk Management Education Centers announced the release of their 2012 Request for Applications (RFA) for the Extension Risk Management Education Program, which provides funding for regional projects that help farm and ranch families succeed through targeted risk management strategies.  This program places a special emphasis on risk management strategies, education, and outreach specifically targeted at beginning, socially disadvantaged and immigrant farmers or ranchers, as well as producers who are preparing to retire or using transition strategies to help new farmers get started.

There are four Regional Risk Management Education Centers across the country (Western, Northeast, North Central, and Southern) that were established with funding from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Since 2001, NIFA has partnered with these Regional Centers to address the risk management educational needs of agricultural producers within their regions, primarily through this competitive grants program.  The purpose of projects funded under this program is to educate agricultural producers about the full range of risk management activities including futures, options, agricultural trade options, crop insurance, cash forward contracting, debt reduction, production diversification, farm resources risk reduction, and other risk management strategies.

Qualified groups, organizations, and institutions with a demonstrated capacity to develop, carry out, and manage educational projects that deliver targeted risk management results for agricultural producers and their families are eligible to apply for funding from this program.

Groups interested in applying for funding, should go to the website for the appropriate Regional Risk Management Center in order to view the 2012 RFA, and to access the online application for funding.

Proposals are due on Thursday December 8th, 2011 at 5:00 PM PST.

For more information on the program, click here.