• By Sara Drake
• Posted Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Local Grower Awarded NC AgVentures Grant

A Forsyth County farmer received a NC AgVentures Grant, a grant program aimed at supporting family farms. Alison Northup, with Piedmont Plants Nursery, Inc., is among 68 recipients earning grants between $2,000 and $10,000 from the NC AgVentures Farm Grant Program.

The funding for the competitive grant is provided through the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission and is administered by NC Cooperative Extension. The grants are awarded for agricultural project ideas aimed at helping family farms increase their capacity. Piedmont Plants Nursery grows a wide variety of NC Piedmont specific native plant species from seed including herbaceous perennials (such as shrubs, perennial grasses, trees, and vines).

Piedmont Plants Nursery plans to add an additional high tunnel to be able to triple their production capacity with funding from this grant. The North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission (TTFC) in 2000 to lessen the financial impact on farmers and tobacco-related businesses caused by the sharp decline of tobacco in the agricultural economy. Through their programs, the TTFC supports local markets, funds training for new jobs, promotes North Carolina products, and makes farms safer.

Cooperative Extension is an educational partnership of the state’s two land-grant universities, North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University, county governments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA- NIFA). Its mission is to extend research-based knowledge to all North Carolinians, helping them transform science into everyday solutions that improve their lives and grow our state.

Read more about it on the AgVentures web page.