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Healthy Soils Block Grant Pilot Program

CA Department of Food and Agriculture · 28055

Eligibility details

Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs); University of California (UC), California Community Colleges, or California State Universities (CSU); Federally- and California-Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; Local or regional government agencies such as air pollution control districts; California Commodities; Nonprofit organizations including, but not limited to: Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, Irrigation districts, and Land trusts.

Matching funds & resources

Source matching-funds field: Not Required. Match funding is not required but encouraged.

Matching funds and leveraged resources are different requirements. Read the description and reviewed rules below before determining resource commitments.

About this opportunity

The grant term is four years. The minimum and maximum award per block grant application is $2,000,000 and $5,000,000 respectively. Program Structure: For the purpose of this program, there are three entities of interest. 1. Block Grant Recipients The eligible entities include (1) Resource Conservation Districts; (2) University of California, California Community Colleges, or California State Universities; (3) Federally- and California- Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; (4) Local or regional government agencies such as air pollution control districts; (5) State agricultural marketing programs, and federal marketing programs that represent California commodities; and (6) Nonprofit organizations such as Groundwater Sustainability Agencies, irrigation districts and land trusts. 2. Grant Beneficiaries The eligible entities or individuals (1) California farmers, ranchers, business entities, and federally and California Recognized Native American Indian Tribes; (2) Nonprofit organizations as agriculture operations. Grant Beneficiaries must be at least 18 years old. Project eligibility includes: · Projects must be located on agricultural operations in California. · The project boundaries must be within the state of California. · Awards are limited to one per agricultural operation using a unique tax identification number per grant cycle. Ineligible entities and project conditions: · University and research farms are not eligible. · Cannabis cultivation operations are not eligible. · Projects that use potted plants and plant growth media other than soil are not eligible. 3. Technical Assistance Providers Applicant organizations are required to provide technical assistance to Grant Beneficiaries as required by AB 2377. The eligible entities for TAPs are (1) Resource Conservation Districts, (2) University of California Cooperative Extension and (3) Nonprofit organizations. If the block grant applicant is not one of the entities, they must partner with one such entity to be eligible for this grant opportunity. Note that all entities receiving grant funds must be located in California with a physical California business address. Program Priorities The program aims to achieve at least 25% targeted funding to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers. A socially disadvantaged group is defined by the 2017 Farmer Equity Act as a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities. For the program, these groups include African Americans, Native Indians, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. CDFA also encourages BGRs to facilitate outreach and grants to projects that benefits disadvantaged communities and low-income populations as defined in SB 535 and AB 1550.

Funding geography: All entities receiving grant funds must be located in California with a physical California business address.

Funding instrument: Grant. Issuing jurisdiction: California. This is not a geographic eligibility determination.