$50 Million for Farmer-Led Water Work: The EPA Farmer-to-Farmer Grant Is Open (Apply by June 19)

A rare, big swing for the people who farm near the water

Every so often a funding opportunity comes along that is built for exactly the work happening on the ground here. This is one of them.

EPA’s Gulf of America Division has opened the Farmer-to-Farmer 2025 grant program, with up to $50 million on the table for projects that improve water quality, habitat, and resilience by working hand in hand with farmers. The agency expects to make roughly 20 to 30 awards, each between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, with a generous five-year project period. That is real money and real runway.

The catch, and there is always a catch with grants, is the clock. Applications are due June 19. If a project has been sitting in the back of your mind waiting for funding, now is the time to pull it forward.

Read the full Notice of Funding Opportunity on EPA’s site.

What the grant is actually after

At its heart, this program is about a simple idea: farmers are often the first line of defense against nutrient pollution, and the best way to spread good practices is farmer to farmer. The funding supports innovative, farmer-led and farm-focused work that keeps nutrients on the field and out of the water.

Projects need to fit one of four focus areas:

  • Farmer-to-Farmer Mentorship, helping producers adopt regenerative practices through peer mentoring and incentives over three to five years.
  • Demonstrating Regenerative Farming Benefits through Monitoring, measuring how practices actually move the needle on nutrients and erosion.
  • Innovative Technologies for Regenerative Farming, developing or proving out tools and techniques that cut nutrient loss.
  • Habitat Improvement for Nutrient and Soil Management, creating, restoring, or enhancing habitat that also protects water quality.

There is a bonus thread running through all of it, too: EPA is encouraging applicants to weave in innovative technology, from AI and machine learning for monitoring, to precision agriculture sensors, to drones for fieldwork and outreach. If your project has a smart, modern edge, this is the place to show it.

Does this reach us in western Pennsylvania?

It does, and that surprises a lot of people. The program funds work within the Gulf of America watershed, and our corner of Appalachia drains into the Ohio River, which feeds the Mississippi, which empties into the Gulf. The nutrients that leave a field in Somerset or Fayette County are part of that same long journey. Work done here counts.

Who can apply, and who cannot

Eligible applicants include nonprofits, conservation districts, tribes, state and local governments, interstate agencies, and universities. That covers a lot of the organizations already doing water work across the region.

Here is the important fine print. For-profit farms and businesses, and individual farmers, cannot be the primary applicant. But that does not shut anyone out. Farms and businesses can join as paid partners or sub-recipients, and an individual farmer can absolutely take part by teaming up with an eligible entity like a conservation district, a nonprofit, or a cooperative.

So if you are a farmer with a great idea, the move is to find a partner who can hold the grant. And if you are a conservation district or nonprofit, the move is to find the farmers who want to lead.

How to apply

Applications go through Grants.gov, and the deadline is June 19. The full NOFO spells out eligibility, the focus areas, the eligible geography, budget templates, and a helpful Q&A and common-errors document worth reading before you start.

One more thing

This opportunity, and dozens like it, also lives in the H2O Resource Library, where we track funding, deadlines, and tools for water and river groups across the region. If a $1.5 to $2.5 million, five-year project sounds like the kind of thing your organization has been waiting to swing at, do not let June 19 sneak up on you.

Clean water is a team sport, and this one rewards the teams that show up. Go find your partners.

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