Historically Underserved Farmers Subaward Program

The Mississippi River Region’s water quality challenges and habitat loss remain persistent issues. Underserved farmers, especially farmers of color, in this region have been systematically excluded from conservation programming and struggled access to federal resources, which contributes to ecological harm.  

Wallace Center’s EPA Gulf of Mexico Division Historically Underserved Farmers Subaward Program is a competitive subaward program for the Mississippi River Region (HUCs 07 and 08), that aims to address the diverse needs of historically underserved farming communities, center networking and co-learning among subawardees, and resource underserved farmers as conservation leaders. This program will work with an advisory group to support eight to 20 organizations collaborating with underserved farmers on water quality, habitat, or forestry improvements, thus reducing phosphorus and nitrogen loss.

The goals of this subaward program are to:  

• Work directly with Native American, Black, Hispanic or Latino/a/e, Asian, and/or other historically underserved farmers on novel or innovative techniques, methods, or approaches that reduce nonpoint source pollution and increase the sustainability and resiliency of their operations; 
• Leverage partnerships to increase knowledge sharing and collaboration within and among historically underserved communities; 
• Collect and analyze data to demonstrates the results of funded projects; 
• Disseminate results to communities to inform future conservation or management practices and expand adoption of the most cost-effective and sustainable approaches.

Years Active: 2022- 2027

Support for this project is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf of Mexico Division.