Oregon
Business & Cooperative Programs

Valued-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Program

Go to the RD-Oregon Business Programs home page

The VAPG program provides 50%-matching grants to farmers, ranchers, foresters, and fishermen for either planning or working capital purposes to implement value-added ventures -- i.e. marketing or processing projects that add value to the commodities they produce -- or for on--the-farm renewable energy generation projects.  The goal of the program is to increase the producer's income from the commodities they produce. 

The 2008 application deadline for VAPG was March 31, 2008.

Getting Started

Eligible "value-added" activities that VAPG can support:

Category #1
Commodity processing
Category #2
Market differentiation
Category #3
Commodity segregation
Category #4
Renewable energy (on-farm)
Increasing value by changing the commodity's physical state Increasing value by marketing the commodity's special identity or character Increasing value by keeping the commodity physically apart in production and distribution Realizing value by transforming natural resources into energy on the farmstead
Examples: 
Wine, jam, flour, sliced fruit, biodiesel
Examples:
Branding (e.g., "Oregon-grown"), organics, appellations
Examples: 
GMO-free;
varietal purity
Examples:
Wind, solar, anaerobic digester, geothermal, on-farm biodiesel

Planning
or Working Capital

No Planning grants;
Working Capital ONLY

Planning
or Working Capital

Planning
or Working Capital

NOTE!  Working Capital applications must be supported by an independent feasibility study and a business plan.  In Oregon, all 2008 VAPG Working Capital applicants must submit these to the Oregon RD State Office by not later than April 30, 2008.

Recent Projects

Application Process

Application Templates

Regulations

Help for Grant Awardees

Links

RD-Oregon contacts for the VAPG program