USDA ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF FUNDING FOR PROJECTS TO EDUCATE U.S. FARMERS AND RANCHERS ABOUT RISK MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

SACRAMENTO, June 16, 2011 – The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency has announced its 2011 Risk Management Education and Community Outreach Program, which awards funds for outreach and education projects that seek to inform U.S. farmers and ranchers about managing production, marketing, legal, human, and financial risk.

The program gives priority to projects that will educate producers of crops currently not insured under federal crop insurance, specialty crops, and underserved commodities including livestock and forage.

All applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov and received by July 14, 2011. Application requests cannot be less than $20,000 or more than $100,000 for project of up to one year, and cost sharing is not required.

Details about qualifying and applying for these funds are available online at:  http://www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/agreements/.  Questions may also be directed to the Risk Management Agency’s national office or its Davis Regional Office at (530) 792-5870