The Sacramento County Agriculture Commissioner and Offices of Economic Development and Emergency Services are encouraging local agricultural businesses impacted by recent severe drought and flooding conditions to take advantage of new State funding support.
The first round of applications for the California Small Agricultural Business Drought and Flood Relief Grant Program is now open, and will ultimately award up to $95 million in drought and flood relief grants to eligible small agricultural businesses throughout California to cover part of costs incurred from California's extreme drought from 2019 to 2022 and the flooding conditions from the 2023 storm.
Designed for small agriculture businesses most impacted by the recent drought and flood conditions, the program will provide the opportunity for direct grants of $20,000 – $100,000.
Round 1 for drought relief is open to two eligible groups that have been affected by severe drought according to the United States Department of Agriculture drought monitor: small agricultural businesses and small, socially disadvantaged farmers.
Round 1 for flood relief is open to any small agricultural business within or serving a county that has a state or federal disaster declaration for flooding, which includes Sacramento County.
The program is administered by the California Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA), an arm of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), through its intermediary, Lendistry, and a network of outreach partners who have all been meeting regularly since late July. Lendistry and key partner organizations will be available to provide program-related technical assistance to small agriculture businesses throughout the application period.
For more information on the application dates, grant requirements, eligibility, FAQs and technical assistance, visit cadroughtfloodrelief.com or call 1-888-209-3656
