Farmer & Rancher Disaster Resilience Grant Program
During the 2023 Oregon Legislative Session, $2.65 million was allocated to the Oregon Community Food Systems Network (OCFSN) for the Farmer & Rancher Disaster Resilience Grant Program. This essential and nationally unique funding will support Oregon’s small and underserved producers to be more resilient to climate impacts such as heat, smoke and drought.
In 2024, Round One of this Grant Program awarded $1.6 million to 114 small farms and ranches across Oregon (impact report at the bottom of this page). In Round Two, $900,000 is available for applications from farms and ranches who were not awarded in Round One or who have not previously applied.
The Round Two Application period has been extended by two weeks. Applications acceptance closes on Friday, January 31st at 7pm.
This Farmer & Rancher Disaster Resilience Grant Program builds on the successful OCFSN 2022 Farmer and Rancher Disaster Relief Program. This page will be the primary resource for all details on the Grant Program including the Grant Program Guidelines and Request for Proposals.
With guidance from farmers, a diverse group of network members, farmer supporting organizations and OSU extension experts, this program will quickly and fairly distribute these funds to producers across the state to build more on-farm resilience.
Our list of Potential Allowable On-Farm Resilience Strategies in the Guidelines and RFP document highlights the types of projects eligible for funding. This list is not exhaustive and applicants may propose other activities/expenses to increase their resilience to climate related disasters.
Funding from these grants is for on-farm disaster resilience projects and plans.
Project categories include:
Irrigation and Water Efficiency
Shading and Cooling
Soil Health Management
Crop Management
Ecosystem Management
Equipment Purchase, Rental or Refurbishment
On-Farm Planning, Monitoring, and Research
For this grant program, small farm disaster resilience is defined as the farm or ranch’s ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to natural disasters.
Through proposed and funded projects, the farm or ranch will have enhanced resilience allowing better anticipation of disasters and better planning to reduce disaster losses—rather than waiting for an event to occur and paying for it afterward. This grant is for projects to improve natural disaster resilience, not for ongoing operating or program expenses or equipment. Even though increasing farm viability will increase farm resilience to natural disasters this is a project based grant and can’t go towards ongoing payments or day-to-day operations. Natural disasters for this grant include impacts from heat, drought, fire, smoke, flooding, extreme weather and other climate related disasters.
Round Two Info Session Video:
Application link: https://form.jotform.com/OCFSN_Admin/2025-disaster-resilience-grant
Grant Materials
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Use this Excel spreadsheet budget template (preferred) or the Word doc budget template and follow all instructions on the template. Budgets will be uploaded as part of the application.
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Grant Team Office Hours (English)
8am-9am weekly on Tuesdays Nov 17 - Jan 28 (except Dec 24 and 31).
Zoom Details - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89278598640?pwd=KVSIWC7l6LOzQRx43rLzadg75VdVp2.1
Meeting ID: 892 7859 8640
Passcode: 862708
Call in - +1 253 215 8782
Applicants will be helped on a first-come first-served basis during these office hours. Please find Spanish applicant office hours details on the Spanish webpage
For any questions about this grant program please email grants@ocfsn.org
Funding Details
Round two of the grant has changed compared to round one of the program. There will be only one funding pool with a maximum award amount of $20,000. Applicants requesting $9,999 or less can request funding for multiple disaster resilience projects. Applicants requesting funding between $10,000 and $20,000 will only be allowed to apply for one large cohesive disaster resilience project such as a pond improvement or irrigation upgrade. A single $10,000 - $20,000 project request could include multiple components but they all need to be related (such as a greenhouse expansion project with fans, irrigation and heating).
If you received a grant in 2024 you cannot apply in 2025, but if you were not awarded in 2024 you can reapply in 2025. Applicants may be awarded partial funding for their disaster resilience project depending on funds availability and Grant Review Committee project assessment.
Applicants will need to provide income verification for the 2023 farming year through a Schedule F, C or other corporate tax filing. If providing a Schedule C other farm income proof will need to be provided.
There is no requirement for matching funds for this grant.
Grant recipients will receive up-front payment.
Grant funds must directly support the grant purpose to improve small farm disaster resilience.
Funding from this grant program may be able to be used for match (also known as cost-share) for federal conservation or other funding. Producers are encouraged to contact local NRCS for FSA offices to see how these funds could be used as a match for federal grants.
This map shows current funding opportunities for Oregon farmers and ranchers to obtain financial assistance from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Program Timeline
For the final round of funding, our goal is to have all funds distributed to producers by April 4, 2025.
2025 Program Timeline:
November 1, 2024 - Grant opportunity announced publicly with details on OCFSN website
November 15, 2024 - Grant application period opens
January 31, 2025 - Grant application period closes - Application window has been extended by two weeks
March 20, 2025 - Awards announced, applicants complete acceptance form
April 4, 2025 - All funds for 2024 grants delivered
November 1, 2025 - Interim project report completed by grant awardees
March 30, 2026 - Projects completed, final expenditures completed, and all reporting submitted from awardees (reporting may be completed any time before this deadline, earlier reports will help communicating program success to Oregon Legislature)
Review the Grant Guidelines Document for all details on eligibility and application scoring
Scoring Rubric
For all questions about this grant contact: grants@ocfsn.org
