Winter Funding Opportunities For Fruit And Vegetable Farmers: Grants For Infrastructure, Equipment, And More!

Dec 08, 2025

We often hear that funding is one of the biggest barriers to farming. Fruit and vegetable farms require a lot of infrastructure and equipment to get started and to scale up production. Take some time this winter to check out the following funding opportunities that can help you pay for equipment, infrastructure, and conservation initiatives.

RSDP farmer climate action funding - applications due January 2. Funding available to MN farmers outside of the 7 county metro for grants up to $8,000 for "shovel-ready" projects that can be completed by December 31, 2026. This grant can cover equipment, renewable energy projects, etc. This money is super flexible and can cover things that other grants cannot. Your soil water conservation district can pay for cover crop seed, EQIP can pay for a high tunnel - what can't be covered by these programs?
Lakewinds Organic Field Fund provides small scholarships for infrastructure, equipment, etc. Their application will be open January 1-30 of 2026, and you can see examples of previously funded projects on their website. Projects funded last year include deer fencing, cold storage, pack shed equipment, a barn, a well, a walk behind tractor, and a self-driving GPS unit retrofitted to an older tractor! Grants are up to $8,000.
Mill City Next Stage Grants provides grants for projects like cold storage, wash/pack areas, deer fences, etc. Application dates are not yet listed, but these should open up over the winter. Last year grants were for up to $7,000. Projects funded last year include a mulch layer, paper pot transplanter system, wind breaks, a greenhouse, pack sheds and cold storage. To be eligible, you must sell at a farmers market in Minnesota (it does not need to be Mill City).

Source : umn.edu

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.