Deadline: 29th November 2024.
The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (the “Foundation”) was established by AGCO Corporation
in 2018 as a private, not-for-profit Foundation with the mission to initiate impactful programs to support food security and sustainable agricultural development in communities.
The Foundation requests grant applications from nonprofit organizations to support the next generation of leaders in agriculture, helping them to develop innovative solutions for agrifood systems. The program should aim to support young people to innovate and accelerate their high-impact ideas, solutions, technology innovations and agribusiness startups to deliver sustainable agri-food systems.
This year’s CAG is specifically designed to receive proposals from nonprofits to support
youth-led and high-impact innovations for sustainable agri-food systems. Grant proposals
from eligible nonprofits must target youthful innovators (including startups), young farmers
and small and medium-sized enterprises owned by younger persons who are working to
develop agri-food systems.
The objectives to be achieved by nonprofits through this grant seek to:
- Support youth-led and high-impact innovations for sustainable food systems,
helping to create new viable opportunities for young farmers and youth startups and
support ideas, innovations and solutions that fulfil sustainable agri-food systems
ambitions. - Address the main challenges faced by youth in agri-food sector and contributes to
healthy and sustainable agri-food systems. - Facilitate a support system for the community of next-generation agricultural leaders
to learn, upskill, invent and scale their agricultural innovations and business
enterprises. - Create dignified green job opportunities for young people across the agricultural
value chains. - Revolutionize perception and limited attractiveness of the agri-food systems for young people.
Programs must target at least one of these areas:
- Digital agriculture. The upcoming innovation program will focus on pioneering
solutions aimed at transforming the future of agriculture. The goal is to ensure
sustainable and healthy food systems while boosting productivity, cutting costs and
reducing environmental impact. - Climate resilience. The innovation program is expected to promote climate
resilience and smart agriculture solutions and practices, helping to ensure
sustainability across the food value chains. - Capacity development. The innovation program is expected to emphasize on
innovative solutions that focus on enhancing next-generation leaders and value chain
actors’ skills, knowledge and resources to develop the agri-food systems and
strengthen knowledge resources for the agriculture talent pipeline. - Market efficiency. The innovation program under this category must focus on
agricultural market transformation ideas and technologies that can be game
changers in promoting market efficiency for agricultural commodities and
strengthening market stability at all levels of the food chain. - Energy for food systems. The innovation program is expected to emphasize
solutions focusing on renewable energy integration that drives sustainable practices
and greener energy solutions in the agri-food systems. Innovation program under the
energy for food systems category can cover primary food production, processing,
among others. - Food innovations. The innovation program is expected to focus on dynamic and
innovative solutions that add value or produce high-quality, nutritious and healthy
food to meet consumers’ demands, dietary needs and reduce environmental impact.
Grant
The Foundation will provide a maximum of US$400,000 to US$450,000 each for one or more projects selected for this grant cycle to carry out the planned activities. The grant proposal must be designed for a three-year project duration.
The Foundation will disburse the grant funds in three instalments over the project duration.
Proposing nonprofits should consider this arrangement when developing the budget
breakdown.
Eligibility
- The Foundation welcomes grant proposals from nonprofit organizations registered and
recognized as charitable, nonprofit, or non-governmental organizations under the law and have a proven track record of implementing projects and programs around agri-food systems and youth ecosystems. - The nonprofit must submit a grant proposal on implementing a youth-focused program to support the next generation of leaders in agriculture, helping them to develop innovative solutions for agri-food systems.
- Program implementation must target next-generation leaders within the age bracket of 18-40 years, including young innovators (including startups), young farmers, youth leaders, small and medium-sized enterprises owned by younger persons
Country List
The proposing nonprofit organizations can submit grant proposals to be implemented in any of the countries below: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Zambia.
Application Process
As part of the selection process, nonprofit organizations must complete all the mandatory
questions in the grant application form through our Community Investment software
partner, Benevity and, in addition, must submit the following documents required as part of
the grant proposal package:
- Project proposal in English (Word Doc format) – (max. 3,000 words).
- Budget breakdown in spreadsheet.
- Proof of nonprofit status.
These additional documents should be uploaded directly on the portal under the application
form’s specific section.
For more information and application.