MorrisonGrants

USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation released the NOFA for five grant or assistance programs today, each of which assists entities with creating or expanding foreign markets for agricultural commodities in one way or another.

USDA, Rural Development, announced that the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) is open for applications focused on Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements this week. This section of the program offers both grants and guaranteed loans. The purpose of the program is to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs and consumption and help meet the Nation’s critical energy needs.

USDA, Rural Development, has announced the Rural Business Opportunity Grants. While planning and outreach projects are still eligible as in previous years, this year’s focus is “best practice” projects in the area of regional economic and community development using key strategies of USDA. Following is a brief summary; see official program rules for full details.

USDA Rural Development administers the Biorefinery Assistance Program to provide guaranteed loans for the development and construction of commercial-scale biorefineries or for the retrofitting of existing facilities (including, but not limited to, wood products facilities and sugar mills) for the development of advanced biofuels.

For those of you in California, CDFA announced yesterday that they will be holding classes to assist companies expand sales overseas. The six training sessions will be spread over three months beginning in March 2010. The sessions will be held in Fresno, Sacramento, and San Luis Obispo and will cover topics including “international marketing; logistics and documentation; negotiation and cultural aspects; financing; and foreign regulations.” Read the full CDFA news release.

The equation for finding the right grant is simple: be in the right place at the right time. How to get there is the difficult part and requires diligence and patience. Here are some tips:

The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced today that it will hold free workshops and one free webinar from January 11-14 to help interested entities apply for the 2010 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.