Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) Program (10.188)

Also known as Organic Market Development Grant Program

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$85.0 million
• Grant awards107
• Typical award$100,000
• Awarded in FY 2025$0
• Size rank854 of 1824
• Type of assistanceGrant

Key findings

• It is the 854th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 65% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 38 states and territories.

What the program funds

The Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) supports the development of new and expanded organic markets by providing additional resources and certainty for businesses transitioning to organic or initiating new organic production and processing capacity. By investing in certified organic, expanding capacity for aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, distribution, or consumer markets, the anticipated increase in market activity will both address demand for domestically produced agricultural products and the critical need for additional market paths identified by domestic organic producers.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

What the money can and cannot pay for

Funds should be use to 1) Increase of domestic organic supply chain capacity for producers, handlers, suppliers, and processors; Facilitate market development for domestically produced organic food products; Expand capacity for processing, aggregation, and distribution of agricultural products to create more and better markets for producers; Modernize manufacturing, tracking, storage, and information technology systems, such as process control or organic ingredient tracking systems; Improve the capacity of entities to comply with regulatory requirements or quality standards required to access markets, such as food safety and organic certification; and Market and promotional activities that help build commercial markets for U.S. organic agricultural products and commodities.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Recipients are required to provide 50% of project costs. For underserved farmers and ranchers, or for other businesses that qualify under SBA categories of Small disadvantaged business, Women-owned small business, or veteran-owned small business, the required match funding contribution or cost share must provide 25% of the project costs.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Deadlines do not apply This was a one-time funding opportunity. Refer to the program webpage at https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants and visit the How to Apply tab for updated information.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Market Development and Promotion and Processing Capacity Expansion projects funding ranges between $100,000 and $3,000,000 both for 36-months. A 24-month Simplified Equipment-Only funding ranges between $10,000 and $100,000.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: A grant project has successfully increased their processing capacity as a supplier of organic feed grains within the central New York region. Through the Simplified Equipment award, that farm purchased new equipment that improved the efficiency of loading and distributing feeds commodities such as corn and soybeans. The project increased processing capacity of 1,360,024 pounds and 237,442 pounds of organic grains and soybeans, respectively. They also reported transportation efficiencies, correlating the increased local availability of organic feed to the reduced mileage of 7,986 miles. The accomplished objectives of the project not only improved their local supply chain but also contributed positively to their local ecosystem. In addition to beneficiaries of the recipient their OMDG award are organic livestock and dairy producers in New York.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Small businesses received 68% of the money, businesses 20% and nonprofits 11%.

By state

20 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.