ABIRC Receives Grant From the USDA

The Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC) is pleased to share that it has been awarded a three-year grant, in the amount of $381,166.00, from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program.

Titled, "Southeast Asian (SEA) Beginning Farmer Program of Fresno," the Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC) will create a pilot study, in collaboration with the University of California Cooperative Extension and California State University, Fresno, that will recruit a cohort of ten limited resource and socially disadvantaged SEA beginning farmers, with zero to three years of farming experience, to engage in a series of business development workshops and agricultural workshops. In addition to all of this, program participants will also be able to learn about and increase their knowledge of USDA programs. The long-term goals of this project include program participants having (a) capacity to lease or own a farming business and (b) the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully operate a farming business.

We are currently in the process of developing the application for interested SEA farmers and will be sure to share that link and form once it is ready. To say informed of this program, we kindly ask that you regularly check our social media pages and website.