Overview
The APR Improvement Program (AIP) provides funding, technical assistance, and business planning to farms with land that has already been protected through MDAR’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program. The program assists with issues of economic viability, environmental sustainability, resource conservation, family succession, modernization of infrastructure and other issues that may enhance the long term continued use of the agricultural resource. Grant funds of $25,000 - $100,000 are available to participants on a reimbursement basis for identified capital improvements on the farm property including resource management – such as reseeding hay fields, pasture improvements, fencing, establishing perennial crops - or new or improved farm buildings - such as storage barns, livestock housing, farmstands, or processing facilities.
Eligible Applicants
- Applicants must own, or co-apply with the owner of land that was protected through the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program funding at least three years prior;
- The APR land must be in active agricultural use and have been managed as a commercial agricultural enterprise by the applicant for at least three previous years;
- Non-profit organizations and municipalities are ineligible for this program.
Details
Application Open Period: February 2018
Application Deadline: April 10, 2018
Maximum Funding Per Applicant: $25,000 - $100,000