ALAMOSA — The Rio Grande Farm Park (RGFP) was given the opportunity to support its farmer incubator program with the receipt of a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) grant through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

This $49,999 award will support and enhance the regenerative poultry and vegetable farming programming at the Rio Grande Farm Park. 

Thanks to this grant, RGFP will be able to expand efforts of serving communities of underrepresented farmers.

RGFP will be introducing a poultry farming project modeled after the Main Street Project in Minnesota, where five local farmers recently visited in order to learn regenerative poultry-farming practices.

Another key development of this grant will be the creation of a Farm Stand at the Park.

This stand will be created and run cooperatively by the Incubator Farmers themselves.

This stand will begin as a temporary project, and pending community interest it could become a permanent fixture where chickens and vegetables can be sold seasonally.

RGFP will also continue to provide and improve upon workshops covering regenerative vegetable farming, as well as business development.

The enhanced education program, poultry farming, and farm stand pilot project will solidify the Rio Grande Farm Park as a site that encourages empowerment of community members and enrichment of the Earth through regenerative agricultural and economic practices. The Park is one of 32 sites awarded a BFRDP grant, with over $14.3 million distributed to projects nationwide.

Report courtesy of Meg Mercier, Rio Grande Farm Park,project coordinator, Americorps VISTA.