Local Farmers Awarded Transfarmation Grant

Family farmers in East Texas are awarded $17,500 in research and innovation grants from the Transfarmation Project to help support their farms’ transition from animal agriculture to specialty crops. 

The Halley family has gone from raising chickens for slaughter to growing hemp and rescuing homeless animals. As contract farmers, the Halleys raised six batches of chickens per year—192,000 birds per batch—for 30 years in 12 factory-style houses on their family farm in Cookville, Texas. But they gave up raising birds for good when faced with mounting financial and health troubles from chicken farming. The family has been flourishing financially and with an improved quality of life on the farm, including dog and donkey rescue efforts. While the Halleys initially pursued hemp, Morgan Halley will use this new grant funding to repurpose their poultry houses for flower and vegetable production. 

Here’s some more information about the program: 

• Transfarmation works with farmers, local technical consultants, and research universities to design new agricultural models that show how factory farms can transition to successful, profitable, sustainable, and compassionate plant-focused farming to co-create a new food future.
• Since 2022, Transfarmation has awarded more than $150,000 in Research & Innovation Grants to farmers who own industrial animal agriculture facilities and would like to convert those facilities to fruit, vegetable, mushroom cultivation, or other plant-focused ventures.
• On top of hurting animals and the environment, factory farming causes financial harm to farmers and rural communities. They expect the plant-based food industry to grow substantially, offering farmers a chance at a more lucrative livelihood aligned with their values. Transfarmation helps enrolled farmers and shows other farmers how they can switch from factory farming animals to growing plants.