Announcing Our 2024 Fund-a-Farmer Grant Recipients

by Samantha Gasson, FACT’s Humane Farming Program Manager

After months of reviewing, tallying, and making final adjustments we are absolutely delighted to announce our 2024 Fund-a-Farmer grant recipients!

With 87 farms and ranches located across 31 different states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, this crop of grant recipients tied with last year as our largest cohort ever. We cannot wait to hear all about how their funded projects benefit their animals, ecosystems, and communities.

This year we distributed over $251,000 to farmers from Hawaii to Maine and many places in between. Of the new grant recipients:

• 72% are beginning farmers or ranchers

• 66% are first-generation farmers or ranchers

• 68% identify as women-owned operations

• 47% identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC)

• 11% are identified as military veterans

The projects that we funded are diverse in nature, ranging from mobile housing for laying hens, fencing for cattle, and safe handling systems for sheep. Here are a few examples:

BOTL Farm

BOTL Farm in Ashford, Connecticut, who is AWA certified, was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a glass-front display freezer to increase sales of AWA frozen meat products at their year-round, on-farm store.  

“A glass front freezer will allow me to stock it with current meat inventory, have it available for customers to view, and not have to run around to fetch each item each time I have an on-farm market. Not only will having a display freezer help increase sales but it will also show off my large and diverse selection of farm products not normally seen. I have over 80 inventory items and a menu cannot show this diversity as well as actually seeing the cuts of meat.” ~Danielle

Wild Texan Farm in Jourdanton, Texas was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase portable electric netting and materials to build mobile shelters for rotationally grazing pigs, sheep, and laying hens on pasture. 

“The introduction of mobile shelters will transform our farm's operations and directly benefit the welfare of our animals. Pigs and sheep will have access to reliable protection as they graze, mitigating heat stress and providing refuge from inclement weather. Our laying hens will enjoy a larger, more open space, allowing for increased flock size and will reduce the physical labor requirement on us which will enable us to move our livestock more frequently. Frequent pasture rotation made possible by these shelters will lower parasite loads and enhance soil nutrients, leading to healthier livestock and more productive land. The mobile shelters will grant our livestock consistent access to clean pastures, vital for their physical and mental wellbeing. The enhanced environment will reduce stress and promote healthier, happier animals. This project is key to achieving our vision of a farm where animals and the environment coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship..” - Matt

Aubrey Gallegos, PearlJack Farm

Altogether - since we started our grants program back in 2012 - FACT has cumulatively awarded 695 grants totaling over $1,361,000 to farmers across 48 states, directly benefiting an estimated 1,038,600 animals. The impacts these grants have made on individual operations and surrounding communities are astounding.

Each year we ask our past grantees to tell us how their projects continue to help their farms. In our most recent survey conducted in February, past grant recipients reported that the grants have produced a wide range of long-term benefits. Overall, 98% of farmers reported that their FACT-funded projects improved animal welfare, 93% experienced a positive environmental impact, and 83% found that the grant improved their farm’s financial viability by decreasing expenses, increasing customers and visibility, and ultimately improving net profits.

Farmers have told us that their projects have increased plant and wildlife biodiversity on their operations, improved soil fertility, reduced erosion and fly pressure, enhanced livestock diet and safety, and reduced stress for both the farmer and their animals, among other benefits.

A small amount of money certainly goes a long way with frugal, innovative farmers. For over a decade, our grants have provided a needed financial boost for these farmers so that they may continue to do what they do best – care for their animals and provide nourishing, more humanely-raised food for people in their communities.

Thank you to our funders and supporters! We are in this for the long haul, and we could not do it without them. Our leading funders include: 

• The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is generously underwriting 18 grants to farmers pursuing or holding one of the following animal welfare certifications: Certified Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) by A Greener World, Certified Humane, or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Animal Welfare Certified. The ASPCA® has supported FACT’s grants since 2017 to help increase opportunities for farmers to transition to higher-welfare systems and improve the lives of their animals.

• ButcherBox, a Boston-based business that offers a national humane meat delivery service, is underwriting 16 of our grants for pasture improvement projects. ButcherBox has supported our grants since 2020.

• Food:Land:Opportunity (FLO) is underwriting 18 pasture improvement grants to farms located within 200 miles of Chicago, Illinois. FLO is a collaboration between Kinship Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust, funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.

• Numerous family foundations and hundreds of individual donors who provide financial support for our grants and program services. It takes a village, and we are so thankful for their generosity.

And a sincere Thank You to all who applied.

We would like to thank and acknowledge the more than 625 farmers who applied for a grant this year, you made the review committee’s job a challenge! We applaud all that you are doing to care for your animals and communities. The next round of funding is slated to open in fall 2024.

To learn more about all of our 2024-funded farms and projects, please visit our website.