Missouri Department of Agriculture News Release

Today, the Missouri Department of Agriculture announced the availability of Food Insecure Urban Agriculture Matching Grant funds of up to $25,000 per project. Applications for the grant funds must benefit residents affected by food insecurity in urbanized areas and are due by Oct. 16, 2020. Projects must be complete and ready for verification by May 1, 2021.

The Food Insecure Urban Agriculture Matching Grant will fund projects that address food insecurity within urbanized areas. Applicants must provide a minimum 25% match for their project in a combination of cash or in-kind contributions; however, the cash match must be greater than 50% of the total match for eligibility.

This is a competitive grant program and funds may be used to: increase food production and availability within an urban area; demonstrate growth of local economic communities; increase local economic impact; increase availability of food to local residents; or enhance already established areas within a community and provide assistance to the community.

Projects should support farmers’ markets, apiary programs, and other economic development initiatives that work to reduce food insecurity in areas which have been designated an urbanized area by the United States Census Bureau.

Projects must reside within an urbanized area in one of the following counties:

• Boone
• Buchanan
• Cape Girardeau
• Cass
• Clay
• Cole
• Greene
• Jackson
• Jasper
• Newton
• Platte
• Charles
• St. Louis
• St. Louis City

Applications, a list of eligible expenses and grant requirements can be found online at Agriculture.Mo.Gov/abd/financial/food-insecure.php.