Delmarva farmers encouraged to apply for scholarships through Historic Lewes Farmers Mkt

The Historic Lewes Farmers Market is encouraging small farmers across Delmarva interested in learning more about sustainable practices to apply now for their 2020 scholarship program!

Several $400 scholarships will be awarded to small Delmarva farmers to attend sustainable farming conferences, including the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Annual Farming for the Future Conference held February 5-8, 2020 in Lancaster, PA.

Scholarships will also be awarded for the Future Harvest CASA Conference held January 16-18, 2020, in College Park, MD; and similar conferences such as the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference held January 28-January 30, 2020 in Hershey, PA.

The conferences draw farmers interested in education about sustainable agriculture practices from a broad section of the East Coast, mid-Atlantic and the South with similar growing conditions to the Delmarva.

The Historic Lewes Farmers Market has established an emerging women farmers’ scholarship fund in memory of Debra Schaefer who died in August 2016. It was her family’s wish that this scholarship be established in loving memory of Debra, who was a sustainable farmer in Frankford, Delaware.

To be eligible for the scholarships, the Delmarva farmer must currently be developing a sustainable farming enterprise, or currently farming, on Delmarva.

Applicants must also currently operate a small farm (low sales) as defined by the ERS (Economic Research Service) for the United States Department of Agriculture (less than $350,000 gross in agricultural sales), on Delmarva, or be able to demonstrate financial need to attend the conference (Only one applicant per farm).

All applicants must also be a farmer/grower who sells what they grow, raise or produce on their own farm. A farmer/grower may be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation and shall include family members and employees who assist in the production and/or sales/marketing of the farm products and commit to attend the HLFM farmer’s workshop held in the spring and share what you learned at the conference so that we may disseminate this information to other farmers.

To receive an application and more information about the scholarships, please call (302) 644-1436 or email info@historiclewesfarmersmarket.org

Completed applications are due no later than Friday, December 13, 2019. All scholarship applicants will be notified of awards by January 6, 2020.