USDA Announces New Farm Worker Training Grant

USDA Announces Grant Competition for Agricultural Career and Employment Program to Enhance Training and Services to Agriculture Labor Force

The Department of Agriculture (USDA), in conjunction with its Office of Advocacy and Outreach, is pleased to announce a grant competition for the Agricultural Career and Employment Program (ACE).The purpose of the ACE grants program is to improve the supply, stability, safety, and training of the agriculture labor force. The grants program authorized by section 14204 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) is designed to address the needs of both agricultural employers and farmworkers with respect to the supply of skilled labor in American agriculture and the stability of employment in that sector.

The training and services offered through the ACE grants program will benefit growers by contributing to the establishment of a more skilled pool of workers. Farmworkers who avail themselves of the training and the other services under the program should have enhanced employment opportunities, with the prospect of obtaining additional hours of work and pay or better paying positions on the farm and expanded promotional opportunities as a result of upgraded skills.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, or a consortium of nonprofit organizations or a consortium which includes a nonprofit organization(s), and one or more of the following: agribusiness, State and local governments, agriculture labor organization, farmer or rancher cooperatives, and community-based organizations with the capacity to train farmworkers.

Notice of solicitation for grant applications were published on October 20, 2011, in the Federal Register. The funding opportunity notice may be viewed online at: 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-10-20/pdf/2011-27078.pdf.

Contact: Christine Chavez, Office of Advocacy and Outreach 

(202) 205-4215 

Christine.Chavez@osec.usda.gov