In 2018, the Agricultural Reinvestment Fund received 90 applications and awarded grants to 6 grants to carry out entrepreneurial projects in agriculture. The grants were possible by generous support from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The projects increased the success of farm businesses in North Carolina in addition to serving as demonstrations of entrepreneurship and innovation for farmers both across the state and the country. Read highlights from 2018 and more about the grantees below!
- $225,000 awarded to 26 projects
- 23 grants to individual farmer projects
- 3 grants to collaborative farmer groups
- Types of projects include: dairy, education, fiber, fruits, grains, horticulture, hydroponics, livestock, marketing, medicinal herbs, poultry and value-added products
- Grantees represent 16 counties: Alamance, Bertie, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Northampton, Orange, Person, Randolph, Rowan, Vance, Wake, Warren
- 5 recipients are former tobacco quota holders
- 10 recipients are current or former tobacco farmers
- ~ 49% are Beginning Farmers (under 10 years in operation)
- ~ 42% are Young Farmers (age 35 and under)
- ~ 5% are Veteran Farmers
- ~ 36% are Women Farmers
- ~ 25% are Socially Disadvantaged Farmers
2018 Grant Recipients
Phillip Barker, Olusanya LLC – Granville County
Converting Existing Dairy Barn to a Solar Powered Grow Tunnel
Kamal Bell, Sankofa Farms LLC – Orange County
Project Sanjofa (Bring Life to the Desert)
Chas Edens, Edens Meats LLC – Orange County
Scaling Up: Retrofitting Retired Farm Equipment to Increase the Profitability of Pastured Poultry
William Fricks, Fricks Apiaries – Orange County
Fricks Apiaries Closed Population Breeding Program
Josh Galloway – Vance County
Mobile Honey Extraction Trailer
Austin Genke, Boxcarr Farms – Orange County
Boxcarr Farms Pasture and Livestock Management
Michael Goodson, Kidd Farms LLC – Wake County
Transitioning from Tobacco to Orchard Grass
Michael Graves, Porte’Lu Farms – Caswell County
A Marketable Hops Production
Jesse Hamilton, Broken Spoke Farm – Orange County
Broken Spoke Ice Cream Stand
Brandon Hamrick, Carolina Farmhouse Dairy – Durham County
Carolina Farmhouse Dairy
Emanuel Hayden, Homestead Asili – Rowan County
Turkeys, Hatch to Table
Victor Hunt, Hunt Family Farm – Warren County
Keep me Cool in Warren County
Frederick Inglis, Somerset Farm – Chowan County
Secotan Market: A Collaborative Producer-Only Marketing Project for NE NC
B. Ray Jeffers, B.R. Jeffers Farms – Person County
Jeffers Farms Rebirth
Matthew Ballard & Emma Mankin, Benevolence Farm – Alamance County
Farm-based Body Care Products
Alesia Moore, Shepherd’s Gate Fiber Mill & Discovery Farm – Franklin County
Baa Baa Black Sheep – Wool & Fiber Processing Improvement
Eva Moss, Heartstrong Farm – Randolph County
Infrastructure Improvements and Creative Documentation of CSA Farm
Nicole Owens, Durham Greens – Durham County
Increasing Farming Efficiency through Hydroponics: Vertical Growing System
Randall Page, Page Farm
Page Farm Hemp Trial
Jim Pellegrini, Western Wake Farmers Market, Inc.
Mobile Multi-Purpose Processing Unit
Monica Rivera, Cultivating Resistance Herbals – Durham County
Cultivating Resistance Herbals Farm Expansion
Thomas Justin Robinson, Stonemint – Durham County
Stonemint Seeds
Anna Sonnewald, Anna’s Homestead
Anna’s Homestead
Demetrius and Janel Thompson, Thompson Farm – Durham County
Thomas Farm Greenhouse Retrofit
Matthew Vaughn, The Carolina Homeplace Farm, LLC
New Life for Old Farm Infrastructure
Patrique Veille, Bear Fiber LLC
Collaborative Project
Value Added Producer Processing of a “New” Rotational Agricultural Fiber in NC, Hemp
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