Bucks County Foodshed Alliance (BCFA), through the generosity of donors, has awarded five separate grants to local farmers so far in 2024, totaling nearly $10,000.
This year’s grant recipients include: Rolling Hills Farm, Tinicum CSA, Hershberger Heritage Farm, Pan’s Forest, and Kona Compost. The grants will have big impacts on the sustainability of these important farms.
BCFA began offering Small Farm Grants to farmers in the Bucks County region in 2019. The grant aims to provide funds to local farmers to make capital and other improvements supporting the farms’ long term health. It prioritizes farms that employ sustainable agricultural practices.
Rolling Hills Farm, a vegetable farm in Lambertville, N.J., received a grant to purchase new market tents. Farmer Stephanie Spock explains, “acquiring these tents has given us the ability to do farmers markets in even the worst of weather. After all of our tents broke in a bad storm last year, this grant has allowed us to purchase tents that will last years longer than anything we could afford to purchase… Having strong tents is crucial to the success of our business.”
Tinicum CSA, a vegetable farm located in Tinicum, used its grant to purchase a new potato digger. Farmer John Crooke said, “we grow a lot of potatoes at Tinicum CSA. With this new potato digger I am so excited to speed up our potato harvests. I’m so glad that the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance awarded me their Small Farm Grant to make this purchase possible.”
Hershberger Heritage Farm, a livestock farm in Sellersville, is using its grant funds to enhance its online marketing to improve its outreach and sustainability. Farmer Nate White explains, “the grant has allowed us to build a brand new completely professional and functional website [for Berger Box] to handle our customers’ custom orders and website features that would otherwise be impossible without BCFA’s help, support and guidance. I am so very thankful to be awarded this grant, and will owe the future success of my business in part to BCFA and all they have done for HHF.”
Kona Compost founder Heather Guidice will be participating in Soil Web training which will have far-reaching implications for regeneration of the soil in this region. She will use the grant toward the tuition for this course.
Pan’s Forest, a small-scale vegetable farm in Doylestown, used its grant to purchase the materials to build a new hoop house needed for both early and late crop production. Farmer Daniel Passhaus said, “a funding opportunity like the BCFA Small Farm Grant Program makes a huge difference for us, especially when we were able to receive the grant before the growing season had even begun… These unheated structures have been increasingly helpful on the farm in controlling erosion and soil compaction, extending the growing season, and protecting crops from pests and diseases. Thanks again to the BCFA for their commitment to the local farm scene.”
BCFA was founded in 2006 to strengthen the Bucks County farming community and improve the availability of local, healthy, sustainably produced food. Since 2019, 17 Small Farm Grants have been awarded to support farmers in the region. You can read about the grants and BCFA at www.BucksFoodshed.org.
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