AgSouth Farm Credit Announces $25,000 In Grants To Farmers Markets

Feb 21, 2017

AgSouth Farm Credit Marketing Director Christy Smith announced today that the cooperative has once again set aside $25,000 to help community-based farmers markets promote their markets during 2017.

Fifty farmers markets in AgSouth’s territory will receive $500 to help promote their markets.

AgSouth’s purpose in awarding these grants is to increase awareness of how choosing to purchase locally-produced foods and goods benefits each community’s health and economy.” Smith says that, “As part of the Farm Credit System, AgSouth Farm Credit has been providing financial support to farmers and those in our rural areas for more than a century. This is the fifth year we have provided funds to help local markets with their advertising, and we’re proud to add our Community Grant Program to a long list of ways we continue to support agriculture.”

To be eligible for the grant, markets must be in AgSouth’s territory, be open at least 8 days during a 2-month period, and have an average of at least 10 regularly participating vendors, half of which must sell agricultural products.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.