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OCEDaedga 01-24 <br /> <br />Exhibit A <br /> <br />Guidelines <br /> <br />ORANGE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM GUIDELINES <br />Updated November 9th 2023 <br /> <br />Application for Individual Farmers or Collaborative Farmer Projects <br />This program is intended to provide assistance to Orange County farmers in developing new sources <br />of agricultural income through the provision of cost-share grants. Individual grant limit is $10,000. <br />Farmer applicants must be able to demonstrate that their existing operation is a verifiable farm <br />business meeting the following requirements. <br /> <br />• Land - owned or leased by applicant in Orange County <br />• Infrastructure - suitable for existing operation and any required expansion <br />• Market - defined, accessible, with history of sales <br />• Experience - knowledge, ability, and demonstrated relevant experience <br />• Concept – demonstrates a valid need and specific request <br /> <br />Or, in the case of a newly developing farm enterprise, the applicant must be able to demonstrate the <br />following requirements: <br /> <br />• Land - owned or leased by applicant in Orange County <br />• Infrastructure - suitable for proposed project (site, etc.) <br />• Market – researched, defined, and accessible <br />• Experience - knowledge and ability relative to the proposed project <br />• Concept – demonstrates a valid need and specific request <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Farmer Eligibility <br />• The farm tract and farming operation on which the funds are to be used must be in Orange County <br />in areas zoned appropriately for their use. <br />• Collaborative/Group grants must include at least 3 farmers and may include agricultural groups and <br />agencies. <br />• Applicants and their businesses must not have any past due tax, fee, or fine applicable to Orange <br />County. The Orange County Tax Office will review and follow-up with businesses that are found to <br />have outstanding taxes and apply to the grant program. <br />• Applicant must be current with any existing Orange County Small Business Loan, or Emergency Small <br />Business Loan Payments. <br />• Duplication of benefits prohibited. No individual business or affiliated owner(s) shall receive in <br />excess of $10,000 from Orange County’s Small Business and Large Business Investment Grant <br />Programs, the Agriculture Grant Program, and any other County grant awards over a two year <br />period. Some individual programs may have more stringent restrictions in an effort to spread the <br />funding across as many individual operations as possible. For the Agriculture Grant Program, as <br />noted below in the guidelines, the $10,000 maximum covers a 3-year period. This prohibition <br />includes a situation in which the same owner(s) owns multiple businesses. In such a situation if one <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 3860D891-A04D-42EF-B0F5-6B3C5FDD31EB