Farmer Grant Prep in 2 Hours: a no-jargon checklist to be application-ready

Grants open and close fast. The trick isn’t writing poetry—it’s having your facts, files, and story ready to drop into any form. Here’s a simple two-hour sprint any West Virginia farm can run this week. Do it once, reuse it all year.

What you’ll have at the end:

• One organized folder you can email or upload
• A one-page “Farm Facts” sheet
• Clean copies of the 5 documents every grant asks for
• A short project story you can paste anywhere

The 2-hour sprint
0:00–0:10 — Set up the folder
Create a folder called Grant Kit – [Farm Name] with subfolders: 1) Farm Facts, 2) Docs, 3) Quotes, 4) Photos, 5) Letters.

0:10–0:40 — Gather the numbers (Farm Facts sheet)
Open a blank page (or Google Doc) and fill these bullets:

• Acres, primary enterprises (beef, poultry, hay, produce).
• Typical annual volumes (head finished, dozens/cases, tons of hay).
• Top 3 pain points (labor, bottlenecks, markets).
• Project you want funded (e.g., egg packer, cold-chain, ecommerce).
• 3 outcomes with numbers (hours saved, costs reduced, revenue gained).
• Contacts: owner, cell, email, farm address, pickup/delivery window.

0:40–1:10 — Pull the standard documents (Docs folder)

• W-9 (current year).
• Proof of business (LLC/DBA registration or farm name + Schedule F).
• Tax doc (latest Schedule F or P&L summary).
• Insurance certificate (liability; add equipment if needed).
• UEI (SAM.gov) number if you’ll touch federal funds; if not yet, start the registration.
  Bonus: FSA farm number, Ag producer certificate, voided check for ACH.

1:10–1:40 — Get prices & pictures

• Request two written quotes for each key item (email is fine).
• Take 3–5 phone photos of where the project will go (before/after plan).
• Drop PDFs and JPGs into Quotes and Photos.

​1:40–2:00 — Write the 5-sentence project story

1. Problem: What’s broken or bottlenecked?
2. Solution: What you’re buying/building.
3. Why now: Season, compliance, market opportunity.
4. Outcomes: 2–3 numbers (hours saved, cost cut, revenue added).
5. Partners & match: Bank/RDA/Extension support; cash or in-kind you’ll bring.

Pro tips (that win points)

• Letters of support: one from your bank, one from Extension/RDA, one customer.
• Simple timeline: 0–3–6–12 months with 4 milestones.
• Maintenance & training: a line or two shows you can operate what you buy.
  
  ​For more information, contact:
  Dave Oberting, Questr Automation LLC, 202.568.0852 (m), [email protected]