The TRFM Farmer Fund

The TRFM Farmer Fund was launched in May 2023 as another way for community members to support farmers in the Upstate. The Farmer Fund was established to support two grants: a capacity-building grant and a crisis response grant. Although there are a multitude of federal and corporate grants for farmers, many are competitive and complex due to their national reaches. This presents a hurdle for local farmers as most grants are difficult to apply for and hard to win. The TRFM Farmer Fund provides a simple and local way for TRFM farmers to receive assistance. Especially in the instance of crisis response such as fire or flood, farmers can receive help from TRFM within weeks, while federal or corporate grants may take months or years to process. 

The Farmer Fund was launched at a farm to table dinner with the modest goal of fundraising $5,000. Instead, the community raised $9,700 in its first week! After a second farm to table fundraiser in the fall at Broken Oak Organics and due to the overwhelming generosity of private donors in the community, TRFM raised over $20,000 in its first year for the fund - four times its initial goal!

TRFM has formed a committee of farmers and local agriculture experts who are reviewing applications for its first round of funded farm projects. These projects will be announced in February 2024! Our next Farm to Table Dinner will be held in May 2024; specific date and venue to be announced.

TRFM Announces First Recipients
of Farmer Fund Awards

The Capacity Building Grant

At this time, we are opening applications for the TRFM-FF Capacity Building Grant. This grant is intended to help farmers who are a part of the TRFM community expand their farming capacity or move toward sustainable growing practices. Applications are due by December 31, 2023 at 11:59pm. Awarded projects will be announced on February 1, 2024.

Example projects for the TRFM-FF Capacity Building Grant: 

  • Crop production expansion, equipment purchase, season extension projects

  • Building cold storage facilities

  • New product development such as value-added farm goods, diversifying crops or livestock, etc. 

  • Equipment upgrades such as heaters, refrigerators, solar panel installations, labeling and packaging equipment, etc. 

  • Labor costs of installation of new tools or systems

  • Innovations that improve efficiencies, growing practices or product quality 

  • Marketing or website design, planning tools, record keeping tools and software

Not allowed at this time: agritourism projects, salary for employees, or regular farm consumables such as seed or fertilizers.

We encourage applicants to work with experts for technical assistance wherever applicable. Are you seeking guidance, mentorship or technical assistance from a relevant specialist, extension coordinator, or other farmer who has tried a similar project? If you would like mentorship on this project, but do not have someone to work with yet, TRFM-FF staff and the grant committee can help connect you with someone with relevant expertise. 


Jessica Mullen is acting as the grant coordinator for this project. If you have questions regarding the fit of a project or the application process, please contact her at jessica.trfm@gmail.com. She will make inquiries of the TRFM Farmer Fund Committee and relate their responses to you!