Tag Archives: grants

2019 Frontera Farmer Foundation Grant Applications Available Now

Posted by Casey Cora

The application period for 2019 Frontera Farmer Foundation grants is officially open.

Ready to apply? Please follow this link. The deadline to apply is March 1.

About the Frontera Farmer Foundation

The Frontera Farmer Foundation is committed to promoting small, sustainable Midwestern farms serving the Chicago area, by providing them with capital development grants. Small local farms, which often struggle financially, are more likely to promote biodiversity by planting a wide range of produce and operate using organic practices. By their artisanal approach to agriculture, the freshness of their product and the variety of their offerings, these farmers insure the highest quality food while they add immeasurably to the fabric of their local rural community.

Eligibility requirements:
Frontera Farmer Foundation will award 2019 grants for capital improvements of up to $12,000 to small and mid-size farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin that sell their food products to customers in the Chicago area at farmers markets and otherwise. Farmers must have been in business for at least three years and must demonstrate how the grant will improve both their farm’s viability and the availability of locally grown food products in the Chicago area. Farms that have been awarded grants will be eligible every other year.

Bid on Our Online Auction, Win Amazing Prizes and Help Midwest Family Farmers

Posted by Casey Cora

Starting today, you can help us celebrate the delicious craft (and ensure the livelihoods) of hardworking Midwestern family farmers by participating in our online auction to benefit our Frontera Farmer Foundation.

Here’s the link to the auction page.

lake breeze

We have some truly amazing prizes up for auction, including a private cooking demo for 14 hosted by Rick, an invitation to join us on our annual staff trip to Mexico and a preview to Rick’s new Randolph Street brewery and restaurant.

Oh, and did we mention you can have the Baylesses show you around Mexico City for a weekend?

That’s right. One of our top prizes is a weekend-long cultural and culinary tour that includes market tours, a private cooking class hosted by Rick at his Mexico City apartment, a two-night stay at a premiere B & B and meals at two the area’s hottest restaurants, Maximo Bistrot and Quintonil.

Amazing, right?

What’s even more amazing is the amount of money the foundation has invested in Midwest family farms since its inception in 2003. The tally stands at about $1.5 million, all of it raised from people just like you.

grassroots

That’s real money that Midwestern family farms critically need to become more productive, to continue enriching our lives with fresh, seasonal, sustainably raised deliciousness.

For example, Grassroots Farms, owned and operated by a mother-daughter team of Gail and Lindsey Carpenter, used the foundation’s grant money to build a much-needed vegetable packing and washing shed at their Green County, Wisc. farm.

David and Robin Jameson of Walnut Acres Family Farm in Walnut, Ill., used the money to buy and retrofit a shuttlebus so they could deliver CSA shares.

David and Anika Proctor of Lake Breeze Organics in Benton Heights, Mich. built a cold storage unit and planted a great number of new fruit trees with their grant.

There are dozens more examples of how the money raised by the foundation makes a positive impact on the local agricultural economy.

This year, we invite you (we challenge you!) to make more grant money available to the farmers who sustain us.

The online auction closes at 9 p.m. Sunday.