Agricultural Enterprise Fund Accepting New Applications

Mar 22, 2021


The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) is accepting applications from agricultural, food, and forestry businesses to receive cost-share funding through its Agricultural Enterprise Fund (AEF) program.

The AEF awards grants to starting or expanding businesses in Tennessee and supports Governor Lee’s priorities in distressed counties. Awards are made to those who demonstrate a strong potential for impact on local farm income, access to markets, increased capacity, or agricultural innovation.

“We look forward to supporting strong and impactful projects across our state with these strategic cost-share investments,” Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, D.V.M. said. “The positive results from previous grant recipients are evident, and we anticipate continued growth of agribusinesses through this round of the Agricultural Enterprise Fund.”

The application for the AEF program can be found online here, and the deadline to apply is April 1, 2021. Businesses must include proof of financing and a business plan with their application for it to be considered.
“The Agricultural Enterprise Fund program allowed us to expand in ways that will impact not just us, but our local economy,” Claire Getty of Thompson Appalachian Hardwoods in Huntland said. “We now work with more loggers and forest landowners from our community, our county, and our region.”

In total, AEF has awarded nearly $4.3 million in funding to Tennessee businesses, leading to more than $59 million in private investments from agriculture and forest-product business development since the program’s launch in 2017. You will find more information about the Tennessee Agricultural Enterprise Fund here or by emailing Will Freeman at william.h.freeman@tn.gov.

For more content like this, check out the latest issues of the Cooperator.
 
 
 

Read More News

Apr 28, 2025
On behalf of Governor Bill Lee, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Director Patrick C. Sheehan announced today that applications are now open for the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund (GRRF), a $100 million initiative established to provide flexible financial assistance for current and future unmet disaster recovery needs, including Tropical Storm Helene.
 
Apr 21, 2025
A T-shirt design submitted by 4-H Member Mady Donnell of Sumner County has been selected as the winning entry in the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative 2025 4-H T-shirt contest.
 
Apr 14, 2025

In the next few weeks, the brood of periodical cicadas that last emerged in 2008 will be singing and looking for mates before laying their eggs for the next emergence in 17 years.

 

The 17-year periodical cicadas of Brood XIV will begin to emerge when the soil temperature at 8 inches deep reaches 64 degrees, which is estimated to be in late April to early May.