Announcing our 2026 Fund-a-Farmer Grantees!

We are thrilled to announce our 2026 Fund-a-Farmer Grant recipients! 

But, wait, what are Fund-a-Farmer grants, and why do farmers even need grants? FAF grants support projects like rotational grazing systems, mobile shelters, fencing, shade access, and humane animal handling equipment - all of the behind-the-scenes investments that make humane farming possible.

For many pasture-based farmers, these improvements are urgently needed, but financially out of reach. In an agricultural system that often favors large-scale industrial production, small- and mid-sized farmers face significant barriers to raising animals more humanely and sustainably. Fund-a-Farmer grants help bridge that gap, giving farmers the tools and infrastructure they need to care for animals well, strengthen their operations, and build a healthier food system for all of us.

This year, FACT awarded almost $280,000 to 75 farms across the country. The projects range from large fencing projects that open up acres of pasture access for livestock to graze, to small but crucial adjustments to brooding setups to optimize the safety and efficiency of raising newly hatched chicks. These grant projects will improve the lives of nearly 64,000 farm animals. 

Of the 75 farms awarded grants, 71 received our classic Animal Welfare Improvement Grant, up to $3,500 each, for projects to improve the lives of farm animals. 

Last year, we introduced a new type of grant for farmers making significant changes to their operations, such as converting from confinement to pasture or adopting alternative, slower-growing breeds. These grants, for up to $10,000 each, are appropriately named Systems Change and Innovation Grants. This year, we were happy to be able to expand this new program from 2 funded projects per year to 4, thanks to continued support from the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)!

Alchemist Farm in Sebastopol, California

Here are two farms that are making big improvements to how they raise young animals:

WonderPork LLC in East Lynn, Illinois is transforming the farrowing aspect of their farm by purchasing some individual hog farrowing huts for our sows to birth their hogs humanely with access to the outdoors on pasture. (Funded by Food:Land:Opportunity)

By farrowing on pasture, WonderPork is ensuring a great quality of life for their pigs from day one.

Mollayo Farm in Port Townsend, Washington, is making major brooder improvements by purchasing a shelter to significantly expand housing capacity, automate water delivery systems, and upgrade to safer, energy-efficient heaters.

This means healthier and happier chicks and increased farm efficiency!

While most of the grant projects we fund involve the purchase and installation of crucial farm infrastructure, every once in a while, we get some interesting research projects. 

This year, one of our Systems Change and Innovation Grant recipients is experimenting with silvopasture, “the deliberate integration of trees and grazing livestock operations on the same land”. Greene Kitchen Farm in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, will research the viability of using mulberry fruits as feed for chickens, using various feed ratios to learn if there are significant drawbacks to including mulberry fruits as a large portion of chicken diets. 

You can see his chickens enjoying the shade of some young mulberry trees here:

Each grant project FACT funds represents a farmer, or team of farmers, who care deeply for their animals and work hard to raise them with the utmost care. We are honored to be part of their farming success stories.

None of this would be possible without our funders and supporters! Thank you!!

• The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is generously underwriting 12 grants to farmers pursuing or holding one of the following animal welfare certifications: Certified Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) by A Greener World, Certified Humane, or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Animal Welfare Certified. The ASPCA® has supported FACT’s grants since 2017 to help increase opportunities for farmers to transition to higher-welfare systems and improve the lives of their animals.

• The ASPCA is also funding 4 Systems and Innovation Grants meant to help a farm transition from an enclosed farming system to pasture or switch to a slower-growing breed.

• Food:Land:Opportunity (FLO) is underwriting 21 Animal Welfare Improvement Grants to farms located within 200 miles of Chicago, Illinois. FLO is a collaboration between Kinship Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust, funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.

• YOU: Numerous family foundations and hundreds of individual donors who provide financial support for our grants and program services. It takes a village, and we are so thankful for your generosity. Together, you funded 38 of this year’s grants!

For over a decade, our grants have provided a much-needed financial boost to livestock and poultry farmers, enabling them to continue doing what they do best – caring for their animals and providing nourishing, humanely raised food for people in their communities. 

Since 2012, we have awarded 839 grants totaling $1,762,000, but the need for farmer grants continues to rise every year, especially as government funding has been drastically cut.  If you want to make a difference, consider making a gift to FACT. You can fund projects that make an immediate, practical difference in the lives of farm animals and the farmers who raise them.

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who applied. With over 1,200 applicants this year, it is clear that the need for farm funding is on the rise. If you weren’t funded this year, we encourage you to apply again in the next cycle (applications open on November 1, 2026).