The Animal Welfare Approved program is making available grants of up to $5,000 for the sole purpose of improving animal welfare for Animal Welfare Approved farms or farms that have completed an application to join the program. Each farm may submit a proposal for one project requesting a maximum grant of $5,000.

Grants will be awarded based upon each project’s potential to deliver the greatest benefit to farm animals. This determination will be made by the Animal Welfare Approved grant review panel.

Specific terms and conditions:

Purpose: Grants allocated under the Animal Welfare Approved program must be used solely to improve the welfare of farm animals. Priority will be given to project proposals with the greatest potential impact for improving the welfare of farm animals, by affecting the largest number of animals, and/or resulting in the most significant increase in welfare benefits. Priority will also be given to proposals which develop innovative practices that can ultimately be applied on other farms.

Eligibility: Only farms currently approved by audit to use the Animal Welfare Approved seal or farms that have an application pending to be in the Animal Welfare Approved program on or before October 1, 2009, are eligible to receive a grant. Anyone who has been convicted of animal abuse may not apply. In the case of a pending court decision, any granted funds will be held until applicant/grantee is exonerated. Closely-related operations may be treated as a single operation at the discretion of the review panel.

Compliance: The species for which the grant applies must be compliant with the corresponding Animal Welfare Approved standards by the end of the grant period (December 1, 2010).

Grant amounts: Each farm may only apply for one project for a maximum of $5,000 per farm applicant. Please be aware that all applications will be evaluated on a realistic budget and that all expenses must be justifiable.

Eligible projects: Proposals which address the following welfare challenges will be given preference (listed in order of priority):

1. Genetics (specifically poultry, hog, dairy, other ruminants – listed in order of priority)

2. Outdoor access (specifically mobile housing)

3. Welfare improvements in the slaughter process

4. Non-lethal predator control and/or exclusion and/or other innovative projects that improve the  welfare of animals

Eligible input costs: Examples of eligible input costs are those that will improve the welfare of farm animals and include but are not limited to: design fees; contractor costs (skilled labor only—i.e., an electrician or plumber); materials; slaughter equipment; new mobile housing; or incubators.

Ineligible projects and inputs: Examples of projects and inputs which would be considered ineligible include: farm labor; general farm expenses such as taxes, on-farm tools/machinery, feed or maintenance; projects not directly related to the farm applicant; and projects or inputs outside of the grant's stated purpose. Animal Welfare Approved does not reimburse sales tax. If your farm does not operate under the agricultural exemption, please contact Animal Welfare Approved to discuss this.

Deadline: October 1, 2009. For more information and details please visit their web site. To view grant guidelines please click here (word document - PDF format), To download grant application please click here (word document - PDF format)

To view other available grants please click here.

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