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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for a grant to develop enterprises, supply chains, and markets for continuous living cover crops and cropping systems in the early stage of commercial development.

Continuous living cover (CLC) refers to agricultural systems in which there are living plants and roots in the ground throughout the entire year. This can take many forms, from winter cover crops sown between summer annuals to agroforestry practices, perennial forage crops, perennial biomass crops, and perennial grain production.

This is the third request for proposals under one-time funding provided to the MDA from the General Fund and the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. A summary of the previous 11 grant-supported projects can be found on the Developing Markets for CLC Crops webpage.

Applicants must:

• Be an organization in Minnesota, including a company, government, tribe, urban American Indian Community, partnership, and any type of civil or political association of people.

• Focus on continuous living cover.

• The MDA will use a competitive review process to select grantees. The minimum award is $10,000 and the maximum award is $45,000.

The Developing Markets for CLC Crops Grant application must be received by 4:30 p.m. Central Time on Monday, July 15, 2024, through the MDA’s online application system.

For more information and to see the complete request for proposal (RFP), visit the Developing Markets for CLC Crops webpage.