The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB) announced Thursday, December 22 the availability of applications for the 2012 Farmers’ Market Infrastructure Competitive Grant Program. The Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy (GOAP) is accepting applications postmarked no later than February 29, 2012.

“Kentucky’s more than 150 community farmers’ markets play an important role in providing a direct link between farmers and consumers of fresh, locally grown products,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “This competitive grant program will provide new and expanding farmers’ markets the financial support to construct facilities to increase services and products offered to their consumers.”

The competitive grant program provides an opportunity for local farmers’ markets to access Kentucky Agricultural Development funds for the construction of new permanent facilities for their markets, as well as expansion of existing markets. Up to $250,000 in state funds are available for this program with a maximum of $25,000 that any one applicant may receive in state funds.

“Providing citizens with access to healthy, affordable food, farmers’ markets offer many health and social benefits to communities,” said First Lady Jane Beshear, who has hosted farmers’ markets on Capitol grounds. “As demand for Kentucky-grown, high-quality food increases, it is important that we support our farmers’ markets and that local consumers can continue to reap the benefits.”

“Over the past couple of years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ one of it’s lead initiatives,” stated Roger Thomas, executive director of GOAP. “Visiting the local farmers’ market is one of the easiest ways to build a relationship between local farmers and consumers. This allows the consumer to have a better understanding of the origin of the products they are purchasing.”

All applications received will be reviewed and scored based on the following evaluation criteria: 1) benefit, need of a permanent facility; 2) impact evaluation method; 3) sustainability and long-term impact; 4) reasonableness of the budget; 5) degree of collaboration; and, 6) how it addresses the KADB investment philosophy and guiding principles.

The farmers’ market program is a competitive program, meaning that all applications for this program will be scored, ranked and awarded at the same time. All applications meeting the minimum score will be considered for funding. If the total eligible applications exceed the available funds, the applications with the highest scores will be approved, until funds are exhausted. Awards made through this program will be announced in September 2012.

Detailed guidelines and applications are available on-line at http://agpolicy.ky.gov. Potential applicants with questions should contact their county’s GOAP Project Analyst at 502-564-4627.