Quote:
Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha
Did you folks score a high tunnel?
I attended a seminar that discussed this. The limit in my state is $10000, and that means the property owner pays $2500 and the govt pays $7500. I didn't know there was a lag time of a full year between being granted an award and receiving it. The operations in my state that received a grant in the past were a few years along and reliably producing. Maybe they reserve a few for start ups.
- Lisa
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Lisa, it is a flat rate payment. This means that they will pay you a flat rate per square foot up to the 10k.
So, you don't have to necessarily pay anything depending on what your tunnel costs.
So as an example: 30x72 is 2,160 sqft x $2.90 (the rate for existing farmers here, beginning farmers is 3.50) = 6,264. That is what it pays. If your costs you less, you keep the difference and pay nothing.
As far as start-ups, there is no streamlined process to get the grant faster. There is just higher rates of payment. Beginning farmer is defined as anyone who has shown farm income for less than 10 years on a tax return.
For us, it is: apply by October 15th, get ranked amongst other high tunnel applicants by Decemberish (not all applicants will get funded, so we rank to see who gets he money). If you rank high enough, the contracting work can begin In January. There is all kinds of paper work and mapping and document prep that is done internally. Typically the contract is then ready to sign by May.
So, if you applied in my office today, you could potentially order your high tunnel by next May. So, not quite a year depending on when you apply and when your state's application deadline is for the upcoming program year.