Two Bulloch County non-profit organizations, Statesboro Farmers Market and Kennedy Pond Conservancy, were selected as a recipient of the 2024 AgSouth Growing Our Communities Grant. They were two of 43 organizations chosen across Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to receive the grant from a total of 187 applications.
Zack Murphy, local lender at the AgSouth Statesboro Branch, helped deliver the good news to the grant recipients. “We are proud of the initiatives that both the Statesboro Farmer’s Market and Kennedy Pond Conservancy have on supporting local agriculture and our natural resources, and are looking forward to seeing the projects they have planned come to fruition.”
The Statesboro Farmer’s Market (https://www.visitstatesboro.org/farmers-market) will use the $5,000 grant to expand the Statesboro Farmers Market’s children's area. The expanded area will offer engaging activities that showcase how essential farms are to food distribution, food accessibility and community health, demonstrate engineering’s ever growing role in agriculture, promote ecological awareness and dozens of potential future careers that are all rooted in local Georgia agriculture.
Kennedy Pond Conservancy Inc. (www.kennedypondconservancy.org) will use the $5,000 grant to provide hands-on learning activities for students that focus on water conservation, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture. They will also offer training sessions for teachers to equip them with the knowledge and tools to incorporate environmental education into their teaching.
“Our Growing Our Communities Grant is another way that AgSouth Farm Credit strives to enhance agriculture and rural communities in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.” said Vance Dalton, CEO, AgSouth Farm Credit, “These grants help provide project funding for many great organizations across our territory.”
The AgSouth Growing Our Communities Grant operates on an application-based grant system. Non-profit organizations may apply for up to $5,000 per year to help in their endeavors to promote agriculture, as well as stimulate their local agricultural economy. Grant applications will be accepted from April 1 to June 30, 2025. Project proposals will be reviewed and grants will be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2025.
To qualify for a grant, non-profit organizations must be located within the 147 counties and geographic area where AgSouth Farm Credit conducts business. For more information and to apply, please visit the AgSouth Growing Our Communities Grant page.
