Exclusively funded by the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission
Ellis Cattle Company Improving Genetics Grant Award: $10,000 Ellis Cattle Company began in 2004 with five cows and has grown into a 130-pair beef operation supported by more than 500 leased acres and a growing direct-to-consumer beef business. As the farm … View >>
Scotts Farm Multi-Use Facility Grant Award: $10,000 Scotts Farm has been rooted in Vilas for generations and now operates a 70-cow beef herd after transitioning away from dairy and tobacco. The family has outgrown their current patchwork of rented hay storage … View >>
Sunshine Cove Farm Wash and Pack Facility Grant Award: $10,000 Sunshine Cove Farm will build a dedicated wash-and-pack facility to replace the small makeshift area currently used inside a greenhouse. Microgreens must be harvested during narrow early-morning and evening windows, and … View >>
Bob Shipley, Shipley Farms, LLC Shipley Farm Livestock Handling Equipment Grant Award: $8,000 Shipley Farms produces pasture-raised beef and sells direct to consumers, restaurants and food service companies. A 2022 AgOptions grant supported the construction of a new pole … View >>
Lisa and Dennis Braswell, Braswell Mountain Farms Hay Storage Facility Grant Award: $8,000 Braswell Mountain Farms has added a hay storage facility to their current beef cattle operation to decrease loss and the quality of hay that occurs with weathering. … View >>
Alvin Blake Brown, Brown’s Farm Ridge Improving Performance of Grazing System Grant Award: $8,000 Brown’s Farm Ridge (BFR) invested in a no-till drill to reduce production costs by extending their grazing season to late December and to improve nutrition, reproductive … View >>
Susan Owen, The Lily Patch Farm Sorting, Storage, and Cooling Shed for Pawpaw Grant Award: $8,000 With a 2017 AgOptions grant, Susan started a Pawpaw orchard with 30 trees (expanded to 60 trees in 2019), which are now bearing fruit … View >>
William Petty-Johnson, Mountain Flowers Hemp Solventless Cannabinoid Extraction/Value Added Product Production Grant Award: $8,000 Mountain Flowers Hemp has used their grant to expand capacity to process solventless hemp extract and increase production of pre-rolled hemp products. Solventless extraction is the … View >>
Alexandra and Daniel Brown, Browns Farm Ridge Total Mixed Ration for Local Beef Production Grant Award: $8,000 In less than three years, Browns Farm Ridge has increased their sales of beef through direct sales in multiple local farmers markets, the … View >>
Dorene Jankowski, Fire From the Mountain Outdoor Walk-in Freezer Grant Award: $8,000 Dorene produces a variety of hot sauces, salsa, and berry jams from products grown on her farm and markets them through their website, local farmers markets, wholesale accounts, … View >>
Bob Shipley, Shipley Farms, LLC Shipley Farm Livestock Handling Barn Grant Award: $8,000 Shipley Farms produces pasture-raised beef and direct sells to consumers, restaurants and food service companies. His 1860’s era barn is inadequate to handle the volume of cattle … View >>
Dave Walker, Daffodil Spring Farm Scaling Up Vegetable Production Grant Award: $3,000 With the main goal of achieving greater farm revenue through diversification and resiliency, Dave will create a wash and pack line to be housed under a covered shed. … View >>
Christa Kelley, Land of Milk and Honey Apiary Expansion and Increased Efficiency Grant Award: $6,000 Christa will be expanding the farm’s hives by 50%, adding eight colonies to their current apiary of 16 hives. With the expansion, honey production is … View >>
Chris Denesha, pleb urban winery Expanding and Protecting our High Country Vineyards to New Varietals Grant Award: $6,000 Working with a network of farmers, Extension agents and academic researchers, Chris’s goal is to establish western North Carolina as a unique … View >>
Amy Fiedler, Springhouse Farm Permanent Bed System/Cut Flower Production Expansion Grant Award: $6,000 To diversify the farm and create a more profitable revenue stream, Amy added cut flowers to her operation in 2017. After two years of successful growing and … View >>
Roy Joseph Bledsoe, Longview Farm Improvements to Cattle Business Grant Award: $6,000 A former tobacco farmer who stopped growing tobacco in 2004, Mr. Bledsoe has been concentrating on selling cattle and is looking to improve practices on the farm. With … View >>