Growing Farmers Grant
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FARRMS announces the Holly Rose Mawby Growing Farmers Grant program. This grant is intended to help local food producers with the costs of production while honoring the memory of Holly Rose Mawby, an integral member of North Dakota’s local food movement. Applicants may request up to $500 for expenses associated with the production of local food.
Who may apply?
This grant is intended for local food producers in North Dakota and the Red River Valley. “Local food producers” means those who are growing local food and ag products and marketing directly to consumers at farmers markets, through CSAs, on-farm sales, farm-to-institution, farm-to-restaurant, or other direct sales. Applicants must live in North Dakota, or if they are in the Red River Valley but in Minnesota, they must market their products in North Dakota. Home gardeners who are not marketing their products are not eligible for this grant. Priority will be given to applicants who have completed the Farm Beginnings course. Priority will also be given to applicants who have operated a farm business for at least one full season.
What costs are eligible?
This grant program is designated for costs associated with the production of local food for sale. This could include seeds, plant starting supplies, small equipment, livestock supplies, or other production expenses. Costs may include purchases made as early as January 1, 2022.
We recognize that other grants for farmers are focused on marketing or research and so we chose to create a grant for production expenses. (Those with marketing expenses may be interested in the grants offered by ND Farmers Market and Growers Association).
How Can I Apply?
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Online Applications: Click the button to apply through our online form.
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E-mail Applications: If you prefer to e-mail the application, you can download the application questions here. Please e-mail the completed application and attachments to info@farrms.org. We will accept digital applications (through the form or by e-mail) no later than 8:00am on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
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Mailed applications: We will accept paper applications by mail. They must be postmarked by May 26, 2022. Please mail them to FARRMS, PO Box 22, Tuttle ND 58488.
How will grant decisions be made?
FARRMS will designate $5000 for the grant program in 2022. Applicants may request up to $500.
FARRMS reserves the right to partially fund a grant request or deny a grant request.
Applications will include an itemized list of purchases and if awarded we will request receipts for verification.
When making decisions we will consider whether the applicant meets our eligibility requirements (direct-to-market producer and marketing in North Dakota). We will prioritize those who have completed the Farm Beginnings course and those who have operated their farm business for at least one full season. We will also consider the applicant’s stated commitment to sustainability (people, planet, profit).
What happens if I receive a grant award?
Applications will be reviewed by a committee of volunteers and final decisions will be made by the FARRMS Board of Directors. We will notify applicants in the first week of June.
After notification has been made we will mail grant checks and provide a form for reporting.
Grant recipients will provide a brief report on how the grant was spent and will provide copies of receipts for verification. Reports will be due by June 30, 2022.
About Holly Rose Mawby
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Holly Rose Mawby was an integral member of our local food and farming community in North Dakota.
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She founded gardendwellers FARM with her husband Barry Mawby in the early 2000s. Gardendwellers FARM was the first culinary herb farm in North Dakota. Holly and Barry marketed fresh and freeze-dried herbs and held annual farm-to-table dinners. Gardendwellers FARM lives on as gardendwellers FARM and RANCH stewarded by Holly’s son and daughter-in-law, Adam and Apryl Mawby. http://www.gardendwellers.com/
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Holly also founded the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture at Dakota College at Bottineau https://www.dakotacollege.edu/explore-dcb/ech and served as the Director for the North Dakota Farmers Market and Growers Association.
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She devoted her career to supporting local food producers and growing local food systems across the state. She was also a lifelong member of the North Dakota State Horticultural Society.
Photos are used with permission of Gardendwellers FARM and RANCH.
A Tribute from Stephanie Blumhagen FARRMS Executive Director
Friends,
I want to tell you about a new grant program that we at FARRMS have created in memory of Holly Rose Mawby. Holly was a leader and teacher who laid the foundations of the work we do in local food systems and farmer education. Holly passed away in April 2021 and we are honoring her legacy with the Holly Rose Mawby Growing Farmers Grant.
FARRMS empowers people to dream and realize those dreams to create sustainable farm businesses and thriving agricultural economies. Holly dreamed big, for her own farm and family, and for North Dakota’s rural communities. She lived her dreams with creativity, grit and deep love for the land and people. She and her family created gardendwellers FARM, North Dakota’s first culinary herb farm. She launched the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture (ECH) at Dakota College at Bottineau and served as Director of the North Dakota Farmers Market and Growers Association (NDFMGA). She also was a member of the ND State Horticultural Society.
Holly lived her dreams with passion, and humor. She brought people together at annual farm-to-table dinners, the Local Food Conference, or sharing a meal with friends. She injected creativity and her artistic spirit into all she did. Visiting her farm, I was inspired by the painted flowers adorning the base of a shed, and a gazebo built from recycled windows. In the barn where the hoes, rakes and shovels hung, a sign read, “In Case of Zombies”.
Holly was a natural teacher and loved helping new farmers grow. In addition to her work at the ECH and NDFMGA, we called on her to lead FARRMS classes, host farm field days and mentor beginning farmers. She was a cheerleader for my own milling/baking business, offering advice, new ideas, and baking cookies and lefse with my flour. I know I’m not unique in this respect and I believe every farmers market vendor or local food producer in North Dakota has been touched by Holly’s work, directly or indirectly.
Holly planted the seeds of North Dakota’s local food system. She founded the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticulture and helped launch the North Dakota Farmers Market and Growers Association. Like a garden she carefully tended those organizations and nurtured our burgeoning local food movement and beginning farmers. We at FARRMS will continue tending this “garden” and the Holly Rose Mawby Growing Farmers Grant is one way we are doing that.