The application period for this program is open.
The Urban Farm Conservation Mini-Grant offers up to $5,000 for commercial urban farmers in Minnesota to implement conservation practices.
The intent of this grant program is to support commercial urban farmers to pay for equipment, materials, and services they may need to manage their farm’s soil, water, and plant and animal life with conservation in mind. Learn more about conservation basics for farmers and landowners from the funder of this grant, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS).
Through this grant, urban farmers will be able to pay for conservation-related efforts including but not limited to:
- Soil improvement
- Soil testing including for nutrients, biology, and contaminants
- Urban farm composting facilities
- Multi-species cover cropping
- Specialty crop rotations
- Reduced tillage practices
- Raised bed systems including soil and compost
- Water management
- Micro irrigation systems
- Mulching with natural materials
- Rain barrels and rainwater management
- Plant and animal health
- Pollinator mixes for plant cover
- Perennial vegetation including field border
- Conservation-minded weed treatment
- Low tunnel systems
- Urban forestry
Funds available
Applicants may request up to $5,000. The minimum request allowed is $500.
MDA expects to award $100,000 using a competitive review process.
Please note: Grant funds are dispersed on a reimbursement basis. A grantee will need to pay for their expenses up front and then request reimbursement with proof of payment for expenses.
Eligible applicants
Entities that 1) grow or raise farm products in an urban setting, and 2) sell those farm products, are eligible. This includes but is not limited to:
- For-profit businesses
- Nonprofit organizations
- Native American tribal communities
- Local government entities
- Schools and universities
Applicants must be:
- A commercial farm, meaning they sell at least $1,000 of their farm products annually.
- Based in a Minnesota location that meets one of the following criteria:
- Farming or selling farm products in a Minnesota town with a population over 5,000, or
- Farming within the boundaries of federally recognized tribal land and serving tribal community members, regardless of population size.
- Able to provide proof of earning less than $300,000 in agricultural sales per year for the past three calendar years (2022-2024).
- In good standing with the State of Minnesota:
Applying
The application period closes Thursday, December 18, 2025 at 4 p.m. Central Time
Carefully read the full Urban Farm Conservation Mini-Grant Request for Proposals (RFP) (PDF) for eligibility and requirements. (If you have trouble opening the PDF, try another browser — Edge and Chrome work well.)
Apply for the Urban Farm Conservation Mini-Grant using our online application system.
- If you are a new user, you need to create an account first.
- Once you are logged in, select “Urban Farm Conservation Mini-Grant.”
- Contact us if you need this information in a different format.
Information session
There was an online public information session on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 1 p.m. Central Time. Watch the recording.
During this session MDA staff covered some basic information about the mini-grant including eligibility requirements, what can be purchased and how to apply online.
Technical assistance on conservation practices
The funder of this grant, NRCS, has an abundance of resources on how to carry out conservation practices, which may be directly useful to grant applicants. See the video below addressing some of the resources in the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide, a toolbox with available practices, practice overviews, and resources for each practice.
If you have questions about the technical assistance available through NRCS for urban farm conservation practices, please contact District Conservationist Matthew Lundberg, matthew.lundberg@usda.gov, (651) 463-8665 ext. 6416.
Review process
Awardees will be selected through a competitive process where applications are evaluated by a review committee based on criteria shared in the RFP. MDA staff estimate applicants will be notified during February 2026 about the outcome of their application.
Grant Q&A
See below for frequently asked questions as well as answers to questions submitted to the MDA. Questions from the public about this program will be posted with answers to ensure transparency and access to the same information for all potential applicants.
If you have questions that are not addressed here or in the RFP, email them to Emily Toner at emily.toner@state.mn.us before 11:59 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The definition of sales for this grant program does include donation of farm products. Since this grant is for commercial urban farms who have sold at least $1,000, you would need to meet that threshold. If you donated $1,000 or more of farm products in a calendar year, and have documentation to reflect the value of the donation then you could be eligible related to the commercial definition. You will need to be able to provide the documentation if asked for it.
4 p.m. Central Time on December 18, 2025
For the Urban Farm Conservation Mini-Grant, the urban location eligibility criteria is:
- Based in a Minnesota location that meets one of the following criteria:
- Farming or selling farm products in a Minnesota town within a population over 5,000, or
- Farming within the boundaries of federally recognized tribal land and serving tribal community members, regardless of population size.
"Farming within" means the address of your farm and "selling within" means the address of the location where you sell your farm products. If either is within the municipal boundaries of a town with a population of 5,000 people or more, then you would meet the criteria.
The list of towns that have a population of 5,000 people or greater is on pages 24-25 of the Request for Proposals. If you are close to one of those towns but you are unsure if you are inside the town, you can check the municipal boundaries of a town, you can use the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s municipality maps. We do not use zip codes for this program.
Conservation efforts that relate to forestry on a commercial urban farm property are eligible activities for this grant.
No. The eligibility criteria for this grant state that only "commercial urban farms" may apply, which is defined as a farm that sold or donated at least $1,000 of farm products in the most recent year.
To meet the "commercial urban farm" eligibility criteria for this grant, you farm needs to have sold or donated at least $1,000 of farm products in the most recent year. If asked, you need to be able to provide documentation of those sales or donations.
If you donated farm products and need to document the value of those donations, create a table with one line for each instance of donation. For each donation, the table should show:
- Date of donation
- Recipient of donation (e.g. entity name)
- Description of farm products donated
- Amount in lbs. of farm products donated
- Value of donation in dollars
- Contact information including name, email address and phone number of the recipient who could confirm the details of your donation.
Alternately, the entity who received your donation could provide you a receipt documenting all of the information above.
The MDA has a program called Farm Advocates which provides some technical assistance to farmers related to financial challenges. If applying to this grant without support is a challenge for you, consider contacting one of these Farm Advocates:
| Laura Cullip* - Hutchinson 320-296-1569 |
| Friendly Vang-Johnson* - Minnetonka 206-276-2284 |
| *specialize in assisting emerging and specialty crop farmers |
You could also consider contacting your local University of Minnesota County Extension Educator for support. Visit the directory of their staff.
Supplies and equipment that are part of conservation practices on a farm that is selling products directly to urban consumers are eligible. In this case, the cover crop seed and grain drill would be eligible expenses.
