Glenda Pereira: 00:02
Welcome to the Maine Farmcast. This is your host, Dr. Glenda Pereira, an Assistant Extension Professor and the Dairy Specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. For today’s episode, we have a pre-recorded webinar which was featured in the webinar series hosted by the Northern New England Tri-State Dairy Team. This dairy team is comprised of dairy specialists from Maine—myself—the University of New Hampshire, Dr.
Glenda Pereira: 00:33
Sarah Allen, and Whitney Hull and Amber Machia, dairy specialists from the University of Vermont. The mission or goal of the Northern New England Tri-State Dairy Team is to collaborate on projects and resources, such as this webinar series, to benefit the greater Northern New England dairy industry. We hope you enjoy this episode, which focused on tips and tricks for dairy grant applications.
Webinar Speaker 2: 01:07
We are available to work with your operation in navigating the grant application process. We’ve broken down our approach into a few steps to consider if applying for funding is something that’s on your radar this year. You may have noticed that specific grant organizations or programs are only open for applications at certain times of the year. Some funding pools are repeated annually, and some are just one-time opportunities. If you don’t have your ducks in a row, it’s really easy to completely miss an application window.
Webinar Speaker 2: 01:39
So if you have projects that you need to secure funding for, anytime is really a good time to connect with a service provider and start building a team that can offer support and advice. Who are service providers? Basically anyone your farm business works with. If you don’t work with someone in Extension, this is a great excuse to reach out and find a good fit. But a service provider could also include any independent consultants you work with.
Webinar Speaker 2: 02:04
Your veterinarian, your nutritionist, your milk buyer representative, a seed or fertilizer or supply or equipment dealer, or someone who works with your conservation district. Anyone you know who is an expert in their field and is someone you want to work with. If you have a project in mind, don’t be afraid to ask anyone who comes to your farm. We’re here to help and support you in any way we can, and oftentimes that means—if we can’t meet your needs—we can connect you with someone who has the right skill set. If a program or funding organization catches your eye, even if the specific opportunity isn’t accepting applications, it’s a good time to figure out how to apply when the grant opens.
Webinar Speaker 2: 02:44
For example, when applying for funding with a Dairy Business Innovation Center, you will need to create an account for their online application portal, WebGrants, which can be done at any time. Another thing you can do ahead of time is to start collecting information for your project. If you are looking to upgrade or replace equipment or facility components, take the time to really look into the options that are out there. Pick your top one or two choices, and be able to explain why it’s the best option for you and what specific benefits it will provide to your business. Something that nearly all grant and program applications will expect from you is some words that describe your operation.
Webinar Speaker 2: 03:27
Before applications open is a great time to get comfortable telling your farm’s story and developing a written statement that reflects what’s important to you and your business. It’s important to remember that the folks who are reviewing and ranking your applications likely don’t know you. They’ve never met you. They’ve never been to your farm, and you only have this one chance to paint a picture for them. For some people, this can feel a little awkward and uncomfortable, but there are lots of resources out there to walk you through the process.
Webinar Speaker 2: 03:58
Specifically, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets has a couple of great articles on marketing your business, broken down into these steps. Step one is to get clear on your why. Your why is your unique reason for doing what you do—your motivation for farming. Maybe you are passionate about good cows, producing food for your community, being a steward of the land, or perhaps you are the next generation taking your spot in the family business. Step two is to define your values.
Webinar Speaker 2: 04:29
This is the set of morals or guidelines by which you operate your business. It could include prioritizing animal welfare or milk quality, or even just profitability. Step three is to develop your vision. We want to think big here. What are your hopes and dreams for the future of your business?
Webinar Speaker 2: 04:46
Are you building something to pass down to your children? Do you have specific goals for how many acres you want to crop or how much milk you want to produce? If there were no barriers to the work that you do, what would success look like to you? And step four is to establish your mission. Your mission describes how you can make your vision a reality.
Webinar Speaker 2: 05:07
So how are you going to live and manage your day-to-day tasks to build toward that future that you want? Once you do some thinking on these questions and maybe make some notes, it’s time to put all these ideas into a cohesive statement. This can show up as a short paragraph or a few clear and direct statements, depending on how creative you are. All of these examples I’ve pulled are from websites or social media platforms of dairy farms. Some market direct-to-consumer and some don’t.
Webinar Speaker 2: 05:41
And you can see there’s no real defined template here—anything goes. But if you’ve done this work ahead of time, it makes it a whole lot easier to plug it into an application, and it can also really set the tone and guide your answers as you work through the application. Lastly, if this process doesn’t work for you, another approach is to ask people in your community—family, friends, employees. Ask them what words come to mind when they think about you or your business. Ask them for three descriptive words and use that feedback to develop a statement that resonates with you.
Glenda Pereira: 06:26
Alrighty. After you’ve done the pre-work before the application opens, or you’re considering applying for a grant and the application’s already opened, now you’re going to want to review the requirements for the application. Some folks sometimes refer to it as an RFA or an RFQ, which mean a request for applications or a request for qualifications. All that entails is that the grant funders have designated a packet of things that they would like from you as a submission for the grant. Making sure that you check that checklist that a lot of folks have and review the rubric is a really good way for you to know that, yes, you’ve met all the qualifications and requirements, and it can be considered for an application.
Glenda Pereira: 07:21
Folks sometimes get to almost the finish line, but they miss one thing that was a requirement on their application. Sometimes that’s, unfortunately, a way that your project may not get funded because you missed one required item. Reach out to us. We are happy to review your applications to make sure that you’ve met all the requirements. A lot of the grant funders are there to support you so that you can have a successful submission.
Glenda Pereira: 07:49
Reach out to those folks as resources because, at the end of the day, while Amber, Whitney, Sarah, and I are a resource, we unfortunately don’t disburse grants and aren’t the grant funders. So we oftentimes lean on reaching out to the grant funder and saying, “Hey, can you clarify this or that so that I can better help this person with their grant submission?” One of the things that a lot of grants require is, obviously, quotes. You’ll want to start working on requesting information from people on your team and even vendors or suppliers early because those may take time. You want to request letters of support or letters of commitment or intent.
Glenda Pereira: 08:35
And letters of support are different than letters of intent or commitment. A letter of support is often something that a community member might write for you or somebody who benefits from your project might write for you saying that, yes, I really want this farm to get this ask in the grant, and we’re excited for this. Whereas a letter of commitment or intent is different in that the person who’s writing it for you is going to commit a service, or they’re going to help you with some part of your project—whether that’s a project partner or even some of your ag service providers. We can write a letter of commitment or intent if we have capacity for a project where it entails a field day. We’re happy to write a letter of intent saying, “I will help the person run the field day, do the registration, blah blah blah,” so that this project submission can be more successful.
Glenda Pereira: 09:34
Make sure that you understand that some require letters of support and letters of commitment. And then something that we’re going to talk about in the next couple of slides is that a lot of times the reporting in the grant proposal wants outcomes or expectations or metrics. That often involves an economic evaluation or analysis. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it certainly has to demonstrate that if you are going to purchase something for your farm, it is going to have a return on investment and really support your dairy business overall. Lastly, you’ll want to prepare your application ahead of time. Maybe using Google Docs or handwritten paper is a great way to prepare this ahead of time and have that handy so you can work on the application as you go.
Glenda Pereira: 10:32
For example, some applications open early, and you can upload information and save it. I find that that’s the way it works best for farmers because you don’t have two to four hours every day to work on this. A lot of submission forms allow you to work as you go. Then you’re inputting some information here and there, and you’re finishing the application as a whole. And again, like I said, reach out to us and other ag service providers who can review that application for you.
Glenda Pereira: 11:04
So now we’re going to go into what I talked a little bit about—understanding what that request for applications or request for qualifications entails. I mentioned that there are checklists available, but what I really like to look at is how the grant will be evaluated. I can write about cats and dogs all I want in the grant and how this project is great. But if the project says, for example, in our reviewer score criteria here on the right-hand side from the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center, that we’re talking about dairy operations, then I’ve failed, and I’m not going to get 15 points because I’m talking about cats and dogs.
Glenda Pereira: 11:45
Right? So it’s important that we follow the guidelines because when the reviewers are looking at your packet, they’re going to use this to evaluate your packet and whether it ranks higher than other submissions. It’s important that we know what the target and goals are ahead of time so that we can have a planned approach to writing our grant and making sure that we’re including everything that’s going to be evaluated. In addition, I mentioned that a lot of applications require you to show some type of outcome or expectation or return on investment. I have an example here.
Glenda Pereira: 12:23
So a lot of times, because we’re dealing with a dairy operation, we look at milk production—input to output. If I improve this one thing with this grant—doesn’t matter what it is—it’s likely that I’ll see some benefit. A metric that’s really easy to use is milk production.
Glenda Pereira: 12:42
All we’re saying is, I know that if I implement this one management strategy that’s going to come from the funding of this grant that I’m applying for, I’m able to measure that. So right now, I need to think about, okay, what are my current numbers? And then after the project completion, what are the numbers then? For example, if I’m wanting to implement a robot feed pusher in my barn, there’s research and data that exist saying that consistent feeding practices and good management for feeding practices can help increase milk production per cow by 3 to 5%. I had the research study that indicated that.
Glenda Pereira: 13:30
So if right now my current milk per cow per day is 50 pounds, we can expect to see—let’s be conservative on the 3% side—a 1.5-pound increase per cow per day. That’s a really easy way to evaluate how this implementation of whatever you’re asking for on your farm is going to improve your bottom line. This also applies to anything related to dairy storage and handling. If you’re unable to currently control the temperature in any of your pipelines or in your bulk tank, if your milk quality isn’t within the range or standards and benchmarks to meet the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance or your personal benchmark, those are ways that we can quantify how we will improve our farm and our business because of this one small thing that we’re implementing. Right?
Glenda Pereira: 14:30
It has a big impact and a big return on your investment. In addition, I always recommend citing where you found this source because, you know, just saying, “Hey, I think magic,” you know, Dave Marcinkowski here says, “magic milk.” We just do this one thing, and it improves magically. But there’s a lot of research stating that this actually does happen, and we can put numbers behind it. I just always recommend linking that as well.
Glenda Pereira: 14:59
Doing a Google search is your best way to do this, or of course, reach out to us and we can lead you in the right direction.
Webinar Speaker 3: 15:09
All right. Now you’ve told your farm story. You’ve decided what you’re going to apply for. You’ve written that up, and you think you’re ready to submit. There’s still a couple of steps that I always recommend just to make sure that your application is as complete as possible before you press that submit button.
Webinar Speaker 3: 15:26
And they’re pretty basic. The first one is just actually review the grant. A lot of times if you’re going through and putting in information throughout a couple of weeks here and there, you may change some of your numbers a little bit throughout, or you may change some of the project. Make sure that you go through and that you’re proofreading and that everything is consistent and that it flows and all of your information stays consistent throughout the grant process. It’s a good idea to have somebody else take a look at your grant.
Webinar Speaker 3: 15:55
Whoever is your technical service provider—somebody maybe that hasn’t been a part of it—can also take a look at it and just see how well it flows, how well a reviewer would interpret it. Make sure that you’re catching typos and small errors—things that seem really simple, and they seem really small and like someone could overlook them, but they do detract from your grant. As we mentioned earlier, some of these grants are very competitive. You don’t want to have anything in your grant submission that might detract from your project. Make sure that you have all of your documentation actually attached and in the right format.
Webinar Speaker 3: 16:33
Don’t be panicking at the last minute trying to figure out whether or not you have that second letter of support that you need. Some grants require both letters of support and letters of commitment. Some of them may require a letter from your milk cooperative. They may require letters from customers. Make sure that you have all of those gathered and attached before you press submit, because if you don’t have those minimum requirements, your grant can’t even be considered.
Webinar Speaker 3: 17:02
You’ve done all of that work and forgot one piece, and now you don’t even qualify. Submit it before the deadline, if at all possible, and check your deadline times. For instance, the NE-DBIC grants are usually due at 2 PM, and I’ve had farms miss deadlines because they thought it was later. Just make sure that you have checked those deadlines and that you have them at the right time. Submit them well in advance.
Webinar Speaker 3: 17:28
Sometimes services go out. We are in rural parts of the state, and we don’t always have the best internet access. Just make sure that you’re not missing a deadline for something like that. The budget is usually the trickiest part of the grant. Make sure that you spend some time and try to make sure that this budget looks correct.
Webinar Speaker 3: 17:54
The first thing that you can do once you get your budget put together is review the grant requirements as well. Some grants are going to require that a specific percentage of your budget has to be dedicated to a specific area. Make sure that you’ve met that. If the grant requires a match, make sure that you’ve met that match. Go through and review your budget.
Webinar Speaker 3: 18:15
Work with somebody else to review your budget and make sure that everything is lined up correctly. Again, this isn’t something that will automatically disqualify you at some point, but if a reviewer is looking at your grant and doesn’t think that your budget meets the requirements—even if it does—if it’s not laid out correctly, that can detract from your grant. For very competitive grants, we want to avoid doing that at all costs. If you have a match requirement, also make sure that you know the difference between the in-kind match and the cash match, because those are usually split up in a budget. The cash match is usually funds that you’re putting forth.
Webinar Speaker 3: 18:52
It can be some other grant funds depending on the grant that you’re applying for. Things that you’re physically spending money on—sometimes it’s labor. Those go towards the cash match. There are also in-kind donations that could be consultants donating their time, groups donating equipment—anything like that that you’re not physically paying for can go into the in-kind.
Webinar Speaker 3: 19:13
Different grants will also split these out a little bit differently. Just make sure that you have reviewed the grant requirements and that your budget aligns with that particular grant. Small things as well: make sure that your math is correct. Make sure that these numbers actually match up to your quotes that you submitted or attached.
Webinar Speaker 3: 19:35
Small inconsistencies really can make it hard on a reviewer to know what your project is. Some small errors that are pretty common and really easy to make—usually you’ve done your budget, but now you have your budget narrative. You really need to make sure that those two areas match up. One very common issue is that, again, you’ve gone through this grant process, you’ve maybe spent a couple of weeks, and maybe some of those numbers have changed.
Webinar Speaker 3: 20:04
You wrote your budget narrative for the budget that you originally had, but maybe you changed the number and you didn’t change it in the budget narrative. That’s really hard for a reviewer to go through and look at because they don’t know what you’re actually applying for. Take a second—take that extra little bit of time—and make sure that you are adding up your budget, adding up your budget narrative, and that those two numbers match. Make sure, again, that you’ve met all of your budget requirements within that budget narrative as well. These things have to match.
Webinar Speaker 3: 20:36
They have to meet the requirements. Similarly to the example that Glenda showed earlier with the response in milk production, if you put a number on your grant, make sure that you can back it up. Make sure that you have explained where that number comes from. So if you say that you are going to have a match of $2,000 to help install the equipment, where did that $2,000 come from? Put the number of employees, the number of hours, and what their hourly rate is to explain that number.
Webinar Speaker 3: 21:09
One of the issues that some people get into is they say, “Okay, well, I have $4,000 that we’re going to match.” Where did that money come from? Same thing with any of your expected results. Those need to be consistent throughout the grant. Those small inconsistencies make it really tricky for a reviewer to know where your numbers come from—be able to show your work—and show that those numbers didn’t just appear out
Glenda Pereira: 21:36
of thin air. We had a mechanism for how we got that number. If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to tune in to next month’s monthly webinar for this Tri-State series. You can search for it on Google by typing in “Tri State Navigating the Future of Dairy.” If you have questions or future suggestions for episodes, please reach out and email extension.farmcast@maine.edu.