MARBIDCO Grant Programs

Local Government Agriculture & Resource-Based Industry Project Cost Share Program

Supporting local and regional rural business development efforts. 

Overview

The Local Government Ag/RBI Project Cost Share Program provides support to local and regional rural business development efforts. MARBIDCO will consider a project cost-share request from a local or regional economic development office if the project fits within MARBIDCO’s statutorily established mission area. Proposed projects or activities should assist in some fashion Maryland’s farming, forestry, or seafood industries.

Maximum Grant Amount: $25,000 (although most cost share grants do not exceed $10,000). Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) matching grants are capped at $5,000, and deer fences at $3,000.  Also, there is a limit of $25,000 in total grants that can be awarded to any single government jurisdiction in any given fiscal year. 

Application Submission Process

All applications must be submitted by a local or regional economic development office, and the funds being utilized by the governmental entity must be own-source (rather than simply pass- through) funds.

Project Criteria: For MARBIDCO to participate in an economic development cost share project with a unit of local government or a regional council the following criteria must be met:

1. Project proposals must fit within MARBIDCO’s statutorily established economic development profile. Any project or activity funded by MARBIDCO must assist in some fashion Maryland’s farming, forestry, or seafood industries (including potentially agri-tourism activities). Businesses that produce foodstuffs or other goods that grow in the soil or in the water, and the packaging and/or value- added processing and marketing of any such products, are generally eligible targets of MARBIDCO’s programs. Water and air quality improvement projects that contribute to business sustainability may also be eligible.
2. MARBIDCO’s participation in the cost share project cannot exceed that of the local government.
3. If a project directly benefits an individual farmer or rural business owner, then the farmer or business owner must be willing to make a financial contribution to the project. The amount of a business owner’s equity contribution can vary depending upon the individual circumstances. Projects that do not directly involve individual business owners (such as industry feasibility studies) may not require private equity contributions.