Funding Resilience

By Sally Worley

PFI’s robust funding streams are helping farmers achieve their goals

Farmers engaged in PFI’s network are successfully reaching their multifaceted goals of increasing farm conservation while increasing farm profits. In 2023, for instance, 79% reported making improvements to their farms due to their involvement with PFI. To build on these successes, you shared in our most recent strategic planning process that we needed to scale up our efforts. Your input led to some bold visions of what we want to see in place by 2026 because of our collective actions.

Our strategic plan provides a compass to help us secure grant funding. We use our strategic plan to vet every grant opportunity and ensure each grant is guided by priorities you, our members, share with us in our member survey, program evaluations, conversations and more.

We have worked to create relationships with funders so we can serve as a conduit between farmer and funder priorities to mutually meet goals. For example, PepsiCo is a major funder of our cover crop and small grains cost-share programs. These programs help PepsiCo support farmers in their supply chains.

L to R Margaret Henry Adam Kiel Sally Worley and Laura Gentry ophoto courtesy of soil and water outcomes fund

From left to right: Margaret Henry, Adam Kiel, Sally Worley and Laura Gentry. Photo courtesy of Soil and Water Outcomes Fund.

Margaret Henry, PepsiCo’s vice president of global sustainable agriculture says, “PepsiCo is an agricultural company at our core and our growth and success relies on the success of the farmers we source from. We want to partner with farmer-centered groups like PFI who have the farmer interest at their core. PFI is a critical partner for PepsiCo in hitting our goals and we have appreciated their partnership and contribution to developing our strategy in how we work with farming communities around the world.”

At the same time, these programs help farmers reduce the financial burden of adopting new practices, which helps meet PFI’s strategic plan vision of healthy environments stemming from responsible land stewardship.

PFI received funding from the following sources in fiscal year 2023

Federal Funding Sources

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program
USDA Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program (The 2501 Program)
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Agriculture and Food Research Initiative- Critical Agricultural Research and Extension
Natural Resources Conservation Service Iowa Conservation Innovation Grant
North Central Region – Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture- Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competetive Grants Program Sustainable Agricultural Systems
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Natural Resources Conservation Service Federal Conservation Innovation Grant
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Farmers Market Promotion Program
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Specialty Crop Block Grant
USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance Program
USDA Regional Food Systems Partnership
Environmental Protection Agency Gulf of Mexico Program
National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program Sustainable Agricultural Systems
Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Midwest Cover Crop Initiative

State Funding Sources

Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship – Division of Soil Conservation and Water Quality
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship – Water Quality Initiative

Foundation Funding Sources

Builders Initiative
Cargill
Cedar Tree Foundation
Ceres Trust
Clif Bar
Community Foundation of Johnson County
Farm Aid
Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research
PepsiCo
RE-AMP
Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation
Stranahan Foundation
Walmart Foundation
Walton Family Foundation
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
Ziff Foundation

Private Funding Sources

ADM
Apex Clean Energy
HSBC
Keurig-Dr. Pepper
Lifeline
Oatly
PepsiCo
Smithfield Foods Inc
Unilever
Walmart

Unrestricted Contributions Are Essential

We are extremely grateful for the funding we get through donations and memberships. Last year we received $148,740 in donations from 355 donors, and $171,000 in membership income.

This pool of funding is the most important source of funding we have. Why? It helps us fund things that aren’t written into grants. Donations fund on-farm research, field days and conference sessions that we don’t have grants for, including a member favorite: Storytelling at the annual conference. Unrestricted funds support multiple programs and allow us to be flexible in funding areas that are most in need.

Convergence Ciderworks is one such funder. Natalie and Chris Naber have been following Practical Farmers since they moved to the Midwest from California in 2020 to establish their hard cidery business. From the start, they made a commitment to support organizational partners that have complementary goals to their business.

Natalie says, “As we craft our locally focused ciders, we work in support of the revitalization of regional agriculture in Iowa while engaging with our community of growers through a mobile fruit pressing service.” In 2023, Convergence committed to donating a percent of proceeds from their award-winning Moonglow Ginger Pear hard cider to PFI. In addition to the financial contributions they are making to PFI and other partner groups, Convergence has created a mobile processing station to help revitalize the apple industry their region.

“In our area of northeastern Iowa, we are so near Minnesota and Wisconsin – who have retained their large apple-growing regions – that most folks in our area tend to venture out of state for apple adventures,” Natalie says. “Our goal is to bring some of that apple-icious joy back to this corner of the state in the form of more apple trees.

“We are hopeful that by providing a middle-chain service with the Driftless Mobile Juicing Service trailer, it will mean folks will have a local resource for their juicing apples (and other fruit) and it will open opportunities for more apple trees to be planted. We are also hopeful to expand the program to help new orchards as they plan, as well as providing annual pruning and harvest support.”

Many thanks to Chris, Natalie and all of the supporters who made our work in 2023 possible.