Ashpole of NourishCap Receives Sustainable Agriculture Grant
Benjamin Ashpole, founder of NourishCap, was recently awarded $6,000 for a project where rural high school students studied native mushrooms. Photo provided by Nikola Tomašić, Pexels.
News Release
NORTH WEBSTER – Benjamin Ashpole of NourishCap in North Webster has been awarded $6,000 for the project, “Growing Futures with Hundreds of Untapped Native Fungi in Regenerative Agriculture and Agritourism Exploration by Rural High-School Students.”
"This project opens a ‘hidden harvest’ of hundreds of under-explored native mushrooms into a gateway to regenerative agriculture," said Ashpole. "Rural students grow, measure, and taste multiple species, explore business ideas, and co-create a classroom-tested video mini-curriculum any agriculture teacher can adopt."
The grant was awarded as part of the 2026 Youth Educator Grant Program, a competitive grant program with the North Central Region – Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program. Youth Educator Grant projects give youth educators in the North Central region opportunities to develop innovative ways to engage youth in learning about sustainable agriculture and share what they learn with fellow educators.
The focus for each of the NCR-SARE grant programs is on research and education. Funding considerations are based on how well the applicant presents the problem being addressed, the project’s relevance to sustainable agriculture in the 12-state North Central region and how well it aligns with NCR-SARE’s goals, among other factors specific to each grant program.
Since 1988, the SARE program has helped advance farming systems that improve profitability, stewardship, and quality of life through a nationwide research and education grants program. The program, part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, funds projects and conducts outreach designed to bring sustainable innovations to agricultural systems.
The call for proposals for NCR-SARE’s 2027 Youth Educator Program will open in early October. Some NCR-SARE grant timelines have changed for the upcoming funding cycle. NCR-SARE encourages those interested in the program to join its mailing list to receive notifications about proposal releases.