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10 Best Loans And Grants For Preppers To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle

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White and brown house on grass field near body of water | Best Loans And Grants For Preppers To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle | Featured

Get started with sustainable living by getting the best loans and grants for preppers to start improving your homestead.

RELATED: 9 Things You Need To Live Off The Grid

Loans and Grants for Preppers and the Self-Reliant

This article was originally posted by homesteading.com and is shared with full permission

Loans and Grants Opportunities to Expand Your Farm Business

You know you want to start a sustainable homestead or farm on a prepper retreat. You may have even found the perfect land at the right price.

The problem is you just don’t have enough money on hand to move forward with a loan or expand your existing farm.

Luckily for us, there is a plethora of easy grants to get and low-money down agriculture loans. Grants and program participation payments also exist once you actually get your land.

A woman carrying brown basket surrounded by rice | Best Loans And Grants For Preppers To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle

It’s for the many practices you will be employing on your homestead anyway.

Agriculture grants are available to buy acreage for a homestead or prepper retreat. It also develops agriculture business on the property, improves the quality of the land, and purchase livestock.

You just have to know where to apply for grants to help get your self-reliant dream closer to becoming a reality.

What is Acreage? It is the measure of an area of land but not necessarily in acres when used for agricultural purposes.

Qualification for Loans and Grants

The United States Department of Agriculture is one of the main sources for very low or no money-down residential loans and grants. They support farmland and agriculture businesses.

The federal government has a vague definition of what qualifies as a valid farm business. Anything that is grown, raised, or harvested from the wild qualifies.

Unlike several years ago, the agriculture business for a small business commercial grant doesn’t have to show a profit. It only requires the presentation of goods for sale and an attempt to make money from the endeavor.

Three black cows and white cows | Best Loans And Grants For Preppers To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle

Basically, setting up an “Eggs For Sale” or “Horse Boarding” sign at the end of the road or online qualifies. Some land grants are specific to the state or county.

Another funding aide gears to help female farmers, beginning farmers (less than 10 years of agriculture experience), minority, or organic farmers. Some of the grants and loans have acreage minimums and maximums.

This requires you to read the full eligibility requirements before printing and filling out the grant application form online.

Finding the right loan or a combination of funding sources right for you might take a little digging, although self-reliant folks are no strangers to shoveling and doing the heavy lifting to get things done!

Top 10 Zero or Low Money Down Loans and Grants for Preppers

1. Beginning Farmer Grants | USDA Loan

The federal low money down with a down payment assistance loan does not have any income restrictions. Beginning farmers and ranchers from anywhere in the country can apply for the annually allocated funds – in the tens of millions of dollars range.

The property cannot be more than a specified percentage of the average farm in your county. It shouldn’t also cost more than about $500,000.

You must not have owned or worked for pay on a farm for more than 10 verifiable years to qualify for this program.

2. USDA Grants for Rural Development

The Rural Development loans are a no or extremely low money down payment program offered around the country for agriculture land purchase. There are no income maximums, but the land purchase cannot total more than 20 acres.

The acreage limits can and have changed during the funding cycles.

3. Fannie Mae Home Ready

This loan does not have an acreage limit and allows the borrower to have a more than 45% DTI – debt-to-income ratio. The HomeReady loan requires a 3% down payment and has very low interest rates.

They also permit the downpayment money to come from another government or non-profit program, a tax refund, or as a gift from someone not on the loan.


Non-borrower household members, adults who are related or unrelated to the borrower but live in the home or are a tenant on the property, regardless of their credit score, can be considered as an income-boosting factor during the loan approval process.

4. Farm Service Agency Operating Loan Program

The FSA low or no money down loan program offers up to $35,000 to farmers for necessary startup expenses. These expenses include the purchase of livestock, fertilizer, seeds, crop plants, fencing, and agricultural machinery.

RELATED: Sustainable Survival – Making ‘Off-The-Grid’ as Green as Possible

5. National Sustainable Agriculture Commission

The organization offers down payment assistance to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The government program defines socially disadvantaged loan applicants as Native Americans, women, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Hawaiians, or any other Pacific Islander.

A minimum of three years of farming or comparable experience is one of the requirements for the down payment assistance. This can be used to cover the 5% down mandated by most government farm loans.

6. Minority and Women Farmers and Ranchers

The USDA low or no money down program offers to fund farmland purchases specifically to female and minority farmers.


The applicants must still meet the 640 credit score required for all farm loans to qualify for the purchase and farm startup loan funds.

7. Agricultural Reinvestment Fund

North Carolina farmers can request the $8,000 grants to invest in agricultural enhancements of their existing operations annually.

8. Missouri Beef Grants

Farmers and ranchers in the state can apply for a $20,000 grant for enhancements to an existing agriculture endeavor. They can use the money to expand their business or to modernize an operation with new equipment.

9. Farmers Market Promotion

The program was launched to create an affordable route for farmers to market their goods and to support local and regional agricultural production.

The money can be used to enhance existing or create new, farm product sales opportunities, for training, to build a roadside farm stand, to host farm events to showcase the goods and services on the homestead, and for agri-tourism events: community events, camping, trail riding, etc.

10. Organic Farming Research Foundation Grants

These are small grants to aid organic farmers. They can use it to enhance their operations, land, barns, fencing, and other production-related needs.

It’s available to citizens in all 50 states regardless of the size of their homestead or their income.

Remember, in order to create a nest egg for you and your family, it’s a wise decision to start investing in your retirement with some passive investing options. These can help you become financially independent and enjoy your life off-grid over many many years.

Want to read the original article? 

10 Best Loans And Grants To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle

Knowing your options is half the battle. Your next step should be researching which one will fit your needs.

As with everything, preparation is key. You wouldn’t want to start your application only to find out halfway through you’re not qualified for it, after all.

Find out what you’re getting into before taking these loans and grants for starting a homestead!

Ever applied for any of these loans and grants for preppers? Share your experiences and any advice you have in the comments section below! 

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Best Loans And Grants To Jumpstart Your Off-Grid Lifestyle | https://survivallife.com/loans-grants-preppers-homesteaders/

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 25, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

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