Carolina Farm Credit awarded over $150,000 to 25 North Carolina organizations and 12 college students as a part of the 2021-2022 Corporate Mission Fund grant program. The Corporate Mission Fund was developed by Carolina Farm Credit in 2014 to provide grants to local, non-profit, agriculture-based organizations, as well as scholarships for North Carolina college students studying agriculture.
The fund’s mission is to “build strong partnerships and alliances, leveraging the resources within the fund to preserve and promote the farmer, the family, and [our] rural communities,” according to the organization’s website. Their goals are to invest in the future of agriculture and to enhance and impact the quality of life in rural North Carolina.
Jocelyn Roten, the marketing specialist for Carolina Farm Credit, believes that these awards have helped improve agriculture in North Carolina over previous years. “I think it does provide a big impact to the local rural communities,” she said.
According to her, the organization usually distributes 25-27 grants per year. Their donations last year included grants and scholarships for students at NC A&T, University of Mount Olive, and NC State. Carolina Farm Credit covers the 54 westernmost counties in North Carolina, and according to Roten, the organization “tried to cover most of [their] territory.”
2022 will mark Carolina Farm Credit's eighth year awarding grants through their Corporate Mission Fund program. Annually, the application cycle opens January 1st, and is kept open until June 30th. The award amounts vary based on the different organizations’ needs, while the maximum that can be applied for is $5,000.
In order to be eligible, any applying organizations must be: a non-profit, in one of the 54 westernmost NC territories, and in a rural/agriculture-based industry. states that the grant selection committee is made up of a few members of the executive team, several branch members, and a couple individuals from the administrative office, plus two board of directors.
Carolina Farm Credit will be having a luncheon for the recipients of this award in May of 2022. Of the 25 organizations that received grant funding from this award, two organizations were located in Alamance County. Those two recipients were Benevolence Farm and Eastlawn Elementary School.
Benevolence Farm, located in Graham, is a social services organization that seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change with individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in North Carolina. The farm intends to use this money to build a 12 feet by 12 feet shed for drying and processing herbs, flowers, and vegetables. This contribution will be the basis of their employment program for incarcerated women. Some of the value-added products the ventilated space will produce include herb and flower infused body care products, as well as infused salts and oils.
“We’re hoping to build a giant shed to add to our capacity to try and preserve flowers and herbs that we grow as part of our body care enterprise,” says Kristen Powers, the executive director for Benevolence Farm. Their current space constraints have made it difficult to preserve the herbs and flowers in a high-quality fashion, so this shed will help to expand capacity and assist in production.
The organization has a joint employment and housing program for women exiting from a North Carolina state prison. Their 13-acre farm offers employment on the farm with a living wage of $15 per hour and up to 29 hours per week. “They are making the products, taking care of the land, designing the body care products, they have a say in implementation...,” according to Powers.
The second recipient, Eastlawn Elementary School is located in Burlington and the school’s mission statement is “teacher leaders growing student leaders.” The funds that the elementary school received as a part of this grant will go towards a new water irrigation system for their raised garden beds. The school utilizes their garden to teach the students valuable lessons in engineering and mathematics. The garden is also used as the basis for student discussions regarding sustainability and problem-solving.
