2025 Funded Projects
Since 2012 FACT has awarded 764 grants to farmers totaling over $1,580,000 to improve farm animal welfare, expand humane farming, and support capital and operational work. This year we distributed almost $220,000 to 72 farms. Our 2025 grants to farmers seeking or holding animal welfare certification were generously underwritten by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) with grants to farmers within a 200 mile radius of Chicago graciously funded by Food:Land:Opportunity. The rest of 2025’s funded projects were made possible by generous donations from our fantastic FACT community. This year we were happy to provide a new, larger grant opportunity funded by the ASPCA to aid farms interested in making a Systems or Innovation Change.
Many current and past grant projects have focused on fencing, converting to slower growing chicken breeds, replacing watering systems, or mobile animal shelters. Farmers have also completed a variety of unique projects involving constructing cattle scratching stations, planting trees to improve access to shade, and purchasing equipment for fly control. Check out this year’s creative projects.
Fencing Projects
Tailfeather Farm
7 Star Ranch, LLC in Naples, Florida, was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase portable panels to be able to utilize grazing areas we currently do not use.
Bee-Ewe-tiful Farms in Walkerton, Indiana was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase fencing to be able to rotationally graze their sheep and have a separate area for their pigs.
Blue Heron Urban Farms and Sanctuary LLC in Fairburn, Georgia was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to add mobile fencing and increase high protein forage to our rotational grazing system to manage 90 Katahdian Sheep livestock, protect livestock, ensure pasture regrowth, and optimize forage utilization.
Brown Family Farm in Oak Park, Minnesota was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase fencing materials to expand hog pens into new, virgin ground; giving the pens more time to recover and grow vegetation. (Funded by ASPCA)
Caer Luna Farm in Cambridge, New York was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase additional electric fencing and a charger to expand pasture access and become certified AWA by a Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Copper Cataract Homestead in Spencer, Indiana was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase reels, electric fence, and portable posts to create more internal fencing to rotational graze pigs on pasture and cover crops.
Finca Brutal in Moca, Puerto Rico was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase additional fencing to provide access to pastures in a new 23 acre section of their farm.
La Finca de Hamberto in Vieques, Puerto Rico was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase fencing to provide laying hens access to forage in large pasture and become Certified Humane. (Funded by ASPCA)
Goshen Farms in Waverly, Virginia was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase portable fencing to rotationallay graze goats in order to expand access to pasture and become certified AWA by a Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Hangry Hen Farms in Kalkasa, Michigan was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase fencing materials to add additional paddocks to be able to rotationally graze goats, pigs, chickens and turkeys.
HJT Ranch in Eau Claire, Michigan was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to expand fencing, underground water system & additional animal shelters to aid in raising quality beef cattle.
Kennedy Family Farms in Wapakoneta , Ohio was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install permanent fencing to begin pasture based rotational grazing management practices for sheep and chickens.
Korte Acres in Chaseburg, Illinois was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to fence the back 7-acre field in permanent wire and purchase electric fencing supplies to split this field into smaller sections for rotational grazing to expand our pasture base so we can rotate cows and pigs more frequently, give the animals better forage, and more shade access.
Merry Chase Farm in Harrisburg, Pensylvannia was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase and install parementer fencing infrastructure that will allow the farm to efficiently and effectively graze and move broilers, laying hens, turkeys, hogs and beef steers allowing the farm to become Certified Humane. (Funded by ASPCA)
Naturally Green Farm & Flowers in Corryton, Tennessee was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase more electric netting to expand their current system.
Nolan Lenzen in Eagle Bend, Minnesota was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to construct a woven wire fence to access 40 acres of land, currently used for hay, allowing it to be rotational grazed year round by beef cattle.
River Basin Farms LLC. In Passadumkeag, Maine was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase portable electric fencing and an energizer to rotationally graze AWA certified chickens and to help keep out larger land predators. (Funded by ASPCA)
Sasquatch Family Farms in Toledo, Washington was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to increased fencing to rationally graze pigs to maintain AWA certification. (Funded by ASPCA)
Skyline Pastures in Mohrsville, Pennsylvania was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install durable fencing to expand grazing areas for forest-raised hogs, improving animal welfare through enhanced space and natural foraging opportunities while promoting sustainable land management by preparing cleared paddocks for future integration of cows and poultry in a rotational grazing system.
Sunset Sky Farm in Westfield, New York was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to enhance animal welfare and farm stainability by improving pasture access and safety for grass-fed beef, dairy cows, poultry, and pigs within our organic vineyard through rotational grazing, efficient weed management with a mower, and semi-permanent fencing, promoting regenerative farming without reliance on synthetic chemicals.
Tailfeather Farm in Milton Freewater, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase sturdier portable electric netting so that we can expand our turkey flocks, increase rotational grazing opportunities and become AWA certified. (Funded by ASPCA)
Woodland Harvest Mountain Farm in West Jefferson, New Jersey was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase fencing materials to rotate our Certified Humane animals off of rock pasture & rent equipment to remove the rock debris in their now covered pasture space since Hurricane Helene; repair & replace their off-grid watering system & replace the damaged roof to the fowl space. (Funded by ASPCA)
Farrowing or Brooding Improvement Projects
Pastured Life Farm
Evans Family Farm in Mount Ulla, North Carolina was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to expand and upgrade the poultry brooder into a predator-proof, well-ventilated hoop-style structure that enhances capacity and prioritizes optimal animal welfare.
First Roots Farm in Oconomowoc , Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to create secure, low-stress farrowing spaces by enhancing fencing infrastructure, promoting natural behaviors, and ensuring the wellbeing of sows and piglets, while supporting stainable, humane food animal management practices that align with the principles of ethical farming and environmental stewardship.
Nuna Farms in Grants Pass, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to make brooder improvements to enhance poultry welfare by improving brooder design, access to food and water, and implementing safer heating systems. Additionally to purchase portable fencing to boost on-field safety, protecting current broilers and future pastured animals.
Pastured Life Farm in O’Brien, Florida was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to improve farrowing and rearing conditions for swine through the use of portable shelters.
Staples Farm in Harrah, Oklahoma was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a farrowing hut that allows the sows access to grazing while protecting the piglets until they are ready to go outside (day 10 weather permitting) allowing the farm to become AWA certified by a Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Valley Of Drakes in Molalla, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a mobile brooding cart with access to pasture for better animal welfare (and compliance with AWA standards), with holding and electrified netting for security from aerial and ground predation. (Funded by ASPCA)
Wildflower Farm in Pennington, New Jersey was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to create a tranquil breeding/brooding environment that facilitates greater health and safety for our ducks and geese and their young while reducing stress, injury and loss from predation. This will allow the farm to become certified AWA from a Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Feeding and Watering Improvement Projects
Bread & Butter Farm
Autumn’s Harvest Farm, LLC in Romul, NY was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to replace current sheep feeders with safer models for their already AWA certified farm. (Funded by ASPCA)
Bread & Butter Farm in Shelbrun, Vermont was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install 2000 feet of water pipe from our nearest water source to serve the cattle herd on 50 acres of pasture.
Cox Hill Farm in Brooklyn, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to trench and install water piping to supply consistent water access to pastured turkeys and pasture-raised layers on a remote 5 acres of the farm, expanding our rotational grazing practices and supporting regenerative land management.
Highland Holler Ranch in Burlington, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to improve water systems in the winter to allow livestock to have access to water at all times.
Hildreth Farms in Rockwell, Iowa was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install a solar-powered well pump to provide a quality source of water for cattle and sheep while they are on pasture. Hildreth Farms is Certified Humane for their hogs. (Funded by ASPCA)
Melwood Farm in Crown City, Ohio was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install piping to supply water to sheep on rotated pastures in order to become certified AWA by a Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Nightfall Farm in Crothersville , Indiana was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to add water pipeline (above and below ground) and more hydrants so that we can provide cool, clean water to our livestock even amid extreme heat and drought, and avoid farmer injury from carrying water long distances.
North Sky Farm in Harvard, Illinois was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install underground water lines to our pasture to provide year round clean fresh water to our dairy herd allowing to eliminate our winter feed lot and provide high quaility winter forage for cows to graze during the winter months.
Odyssey Farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build raised portable decking for the hogs’ feeders and waterers will keep animals out of the deep mud at these critical points following extreme rains, improving the welfare of the animals and improving pasture recovery -which also benefits their health long-term.
Swanson Farm in Verona, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to provide continuous fresh drinking water to their animals throughout the seasons
Tabula Rasa Farms in Carlton, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build two mobile water trailers for pastured layer hen operation
Shelter and Shade Projects
Riverbird Farm
Anliker Family Farms, LLC in West Lafayette, Indiana was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a mobile chicken home with portable feeders, fencing, and water systems that they can rotate their laying hens on pasture behind our cattle to improve egg quality, reduce flies naturally, and improve their soils.
Arrowleaf Prarie Farm in Wonder Lake, Illinois was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a portable steel shelter to improve living conditions throughout the seasons for our feeder stock as we move them about the farm and overwinter them in the frigid cold of our region.
Chadwick Sheep Company in Murray, Kentucky was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a portable shelter that will allow our lambs and pigs to graze on pasture.
East Richwoods Farm in Mountainview Arkansas was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build two mobile sheds that are designed with crush rails for pig farrowing and with four benches per shed to keep goats up off the ground thereby providing clean healthy housing for all animals and allowing the farm to more efficiently utilize all our pastures.
LaKay Farm in Louisburg, North Carolina was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a movable broiler house that will house 150 birds and allow them more space to move freely around the feeders and grow evenly on pasture.
The River Farm in Bluffton, Indiana was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a portable shade structure to increase access to pasture for our cattle in summer and to hire help to install already purchased fencing materials to increase the grazing land for all animals on our farm.
Riverbird Farm in Shelton, Washington was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to construct new schooner-style poultry pens to improve the living conditions of pasture-raised chickens by increasing the flock’s weather protection, reducing vulnerability to predators, increasing ventilation, and improving visibility to farmers for better health monitoring and lower risk of harm during pen moves.
Rockin Highlands in Dodgeville, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a three sided calving shed that will provide dry, well ventilated, housing for brood cows and new born calves being born during the harsh winter months in an attempt to prevent loss of life due to exposure to the cold, respiratory illness, or damp and muddy calving conditions.
Shat Acres Highland Cattle, LLC in Plainfield, Vermont was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to improve the conditions for our animals’ health by putting in a sand and chips pack for the animals to stand on, as the area in front of the barn gets quite muddy, particularly in spring and summer.
Shomron Farm in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to improve living conditions of my sheep, cattle and poultry by installing barn doors, bringing water to the barn, and building an addition for shelter and feed storage.
Waldron Ponderosa in Quemado, New Mexico was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a large mobile chicken tractor which will then provide humane living conditions, allowing for certification, for heritage breed poultry from chick to processing age. (Funded by ASPCA)
Wild Coyote Farm in Berrien Springs , Michigan was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase two local Amish-built mobile chicken coops in order to provide healthy, nutritious, humanely raised, pastured organic chicken for our community that is stainable by being farm-bred, raised in ideal conditions to thrive with minimal losses, and financially stainable.
Wild Grown Farm in Redmond, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to expand pasture access, provide predator proof/sanitary housing, and enhance production capabilities by building a mobile coop and installing electric netting for the turkey flock.
Your Friends Farm in Spokane, Washington was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to build a movable pen to more efficiently utilize rotational grazing methods with our pigs.
Improved Animal Handling and Loading Projects
Graylight Farm
Bowens Farm in Okolona, Mississippi was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a squeeze chute for a catch pen to assist with working cows, improve fly control techniques, and assist with fertilization of pasture to help improve the lively hood of cattle.
Graylight Farm LLC. In Hillsdale, New York was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to construct a handling and loading area for piglets.
Kearney Creek Farm in Onalaska, Washington was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to improve animal handling methods for sheep to reduce stress.
Pastura Farm in Benzonia, Michigan was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to purchase a sheep handling system to reduce the stress of the animals out on pasture during weaning, slaughter, and shearing.
Three Oak Farm Florida in Gainesville, Florida was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to install segregation pens and weighing equipment to support and rehabilitate ill and injured calves and cattle in order to comply with Certified Humane standards. (Funded by ASPCA)
Pasture Improvement or Silvopasture Projects
Butter Hill Hertiage Pork
Arrow Acres in Monroe, Wisconsin was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to transform our poultry operation through regenerative pasture practices, using mobile chicken tractors, fencing, and a water line to ensure humane care, increase production, and rebuild soil health while providing ethically raised food to our community.
Butter Hill Heritage Pork in New Madison, Ohio was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to plant mini” food forests” throughout our grazable pastureland to supply shade, wind barrier, and diversified diet options to our herd of KuneKune pigs, which we breed and raise for pork production.
Dennisur Farm in Powder Springs, Georgia was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to establish a stainable a silvopasture system by implementing cross-fencing and rotational grazing to enhance animal welfare and pasture health. (Funded by ASPCA)
Freis Farm in La Grange, Illinois was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to transform current pasture to rotational pasture for ongoing cow/calf operation as part of an initiative to ensure sustainability of the operation and welfare of the cattle stock.
Great Heritage Farm LLC. in Winthrop, Minnesota was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to expand their pastured pig area into a grove, plant a pig forage blend in their large cattle winter sacrifice lot, and purchase a Hog Hut Farrowing unit to improve sow health and enable safe farrowing on pasture.
Jasper Farmstead in Warner Springs, California was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to establish a fully pasture-based system with rotational grazing, portable fencing, shelters, and water systems, enhancing animal welfare and promoting sustainable farming practices.
Seldom Rest Farms in Rawson, Ohio was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to expand pasture acreage to eliminate the need to feed cattle hay in confinement when current pasture is depleted.
Shelly’s Farm, LLC. in Brentwood, California was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to use a temporary mesh fencing system as a visible barrier to protect newly seeded crops while showcasing our rotational, pasture-based farming system at farmers’ markets.
Woolley Cheese Co in Sedro Woolley, Washington was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to address flock nutrition issues by improving depleted soil fertility and adding beneficial grass and legume species to help mitigate less nutritous and dangerous plants with the goal of becoming AWA certified with A Greener World. (Funded by ASPCA)
Wee Family Farm LLC. in Sherridan, Oregon was awarded a Fund-a-Farmer grant to create silvopasture, via tree planting in paddocks, animals welfare will improve with protection from harsh weather, improved feed quality, better pasture management, and protection from aerial predators.
Systems Change and Innovation Grant Recipients
Willowbrook Farms
Willowbrook Farms in Cassopol, Michigan was awarded a Systems Change and Innovation Grant to transition their farm’s broiler operations to higher-welfare, slower-growing, or heritage breeds thereby improving animal welfare.
Feathered Acres Farm
Feathered Acres Farm in Belgrade, Minnesota was awarded at Systems Change and Innovation Grant Recipients to expand their pasture-based system for hogs by transitioning more finishers from their facility on cement to pasture to promote animal welfare and sustainability.