2025 Urban Farms & Community Gardens Grant Program

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (the Department) is pleased to announce funding available for the Urban Farms and Community Gardens Grant Program to support the development and expansion of community gardens, school gardens, and urban farms across the state. A total of $2,500,000 is available for this grant program. A maximum of $50,000 is available per award. The minimum grant amount is $25,000. 

 For the purposes of this grant program, Urban Agriculture is defined as growing food and raising animals in moderate to heavily populated areas. Urban farms are often accompanied by complementary activities such as processing and distributing food, collecting and reusing food waste and rainwater, and educating, organizing, and employing local residents.

 Across New York State, there are thousands of community growing spaces in both rural and urban landscapes, and there is demand to establish more and expand existing sites. There is little capital to help maintain these plots and coordinators of these spaces are often not-for-profits with limited support to expand and sustain capacity, develop infrastructure, and secure reliable tenancy to the land. This funding is intended to address these needs and support growing spaces. 

Projects must advance the goal of the Urban Farms and Community Gardens grant program, which is to support the development and expansion of community gardens, school gardens, and urban farms across the state, focusing on food production, food safety, and food distribution while creating a lasting impact on local food resiliency.

Eligible applicants include:

 Not-for-profit organizations

• Not-for-profit educational institutions, including K-12 schools and universities
• Municipal government entities
• Community-led groups can work with a fiscal sponsor to apply
• Indian tribal organizations

 Past Urban Farms and Community Gardens awardees are eligible for 2025 funding. Previous projects must be complete and contracts closed by the start of the grant term (January 1, 2026).