We are excited to officially announce the Planting Stock Access Program, which is now open for applications.
Overview:
The Planting Stock Access Program is designed to increase the availability of non-timber forest product planting stock in the Midwestern US. Planting stock can be expensive, but once plants are established, they can become a self-sustaining population which can meet the planting stock requirements of the farmer, and in turn lead to sales or donations of planting stock to other members of the community, increasing overall access.
Eligibility:
The first round of applications will solely be awarded to forest farming projects based in Missouri. However, our goal is to eventually expand this program to other states in the Midwest. Preference will be given to applicants who are new to forest farming and that agree to work with a technical service provider in the planning stages of their project. The MWFFC can serve as a technical service provider and will provide technical
assistance as a free service. Awardees who prefer to work with another service provider, such as a consulting forester, may do so.
- The MWFFC will award grants to 5 participating farmers to order up to $1000 worth of planting stock through the MWFFC. Awardees will fill out an order form which will be fulfilled by the MWFFC and
planting stock will be distributed to farmers.
- The MWFFC will provide guidelines to awardees on best practices and suitable species.
- The MWFFC will provide individualized site assessments to determine ideal planting locations and appropriate site preparation, if needed.
- These funds will be ‘no strings attached’ in the sense that there will be no requirement to sell or give away planting stock. However, the MWFFC will provide venues for planting stock sales in the coming years.
- Grant awardees will be expected to share their progress through a platform of their choosing. This could include speaking at a workshop or other event hosted by
the MWFFC, uploading a farm profile to the Agroforestry Regional Knowledge (ARKx) Exchange Network, creating a report for the MWFFC to share in a monthly newsletter, or sharing in some other way. The MWFFC understands potential privacy concerns associated with growing high value crops such as American ginseng and will not ask recipients to disclose the exact location of their farm on
publicly available platforms.
Timeline:
- January 2025 – The MWFFC will open the grant application, which will be posted on the MWFFC website, or emailed upon request from houstone@lincolnu.edu
- April 18th 2025 – Grant Applications close
- May 2025 – Awardees will be chosen. An information session will be held detailing steps to order plants, accepted plant species, and expectations for best practices.
- June 2025 – MWFFC will visit with awardees to perform a site assessment to recommend species and planting locations, unless the awardee wants to work with another qualified service provider. Farmers will place orders after the site visit.
- June 2025 – September 2025 – Farmers will prepare their sites for planting.
- August - September 2025 - Farmers will receive their orders of planting stock.
- September - October 2025 – Planting stock will be planted, unless the awardees choose a species which is best planted in spring. In this case, planting will occur in early spring 2026.
- 2026 – The MWFFC is
willing to assess the progress of plantings and give recommendations if the awardee desires. A venue for sales of seedlings grown through this program, and for sales of any other existing planting stock by forest farmers will be provided in late spring or summer 2026.
The grant application is open until April 18th. If interested, contact Ezra Houston at houstone@lincolnu.edu to request the application documents.
Catalyzing Agroforestry Grant Program
The Catalyzing Agroforestry
Grant Program is an initiative funded by Edwards Mother Earth Foundation (EMEF) that is managed by Virginia Tech University in partnership with Rural Action, Appalachian Sustainable Development, North Carolina State University and
SilvoCulture.
The grant provides direct financial support for agroforestry, including forest farming! Forest farmers can receive up to $1,000 for 1/4 acre and up to $500/acre for site preparation depending on project scale and scope. Awardees are reimbursed for project expenses upon completion of the project.
The deadline for applications is March 3rd, 2025. If you are interested in applying, check out the link below and direct questions to Patrick Bowers at Virginia Tech [bpatri8@vt.edu].
The MWFFC can also provide you with design assistance and work through the application
process with you. Contact Ezra Houston [houstone@lincolnu.edu] if you would like help with your application.
On January 10th, we had the opportunity to host a forest farming track at the Great Plains Grower's conference, where we invited speakers to present on
several topics, including site selection and preparation, plant propagation techniques, and NRCS cost-share for forest farming! We also heard from two Midwestern forest farmers: one who focuses on ramps (Allium tricoccum) and one based in Kansas who is just getting started.
