For the third consecutive year, America’s Farmers Grow Communities^SM, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, gives eligible farmers the opportunity to win a $2,500 donation to direct to their favorite local nonprofit organization. Farmers can enter between now and Nov. 30 for their chance to help a nonprofit in need.
            This year, the entire community has a voice. Rural community members can suggest a local nonprofit idea or initiative that needs funding in their local community. Farmers may review the ideas and consider them in their entry. Those who wish to plant an idea and encourage farmers to support their cause can do so at www.growcommunities.com.
            Since launching in 2010, the Monsanto Fund has invested more than $7 million in rural America through Grow Communities. In Kansas, at least $220,000 will be distributed among 88 counties. In 2012, Kansas farmers directed:

• $80,000 to ag youth
• $27,500 to fire/emergency services
• $37,500 to community improvement
• $40,000 to education
• $35,000 to service organizations

            “Farmers have really stepped up to the plate since launching Grow Communities in 2010 and have thoughtfully chosen thousands of deserving organizations to receive the $2,500 donations,” said Deborah Patterson, Monsanto Fund president. “New this year, we are pleased to offer rural community members the opportunity to voice their ideas and help farmers strengthen the towns where they live and work.”
            Additionally, winning farmers from counties that have been declared natural disaster areas due to the drought by the USDA will have an opportunity to direct an additional $2,500 donation to a local nonprofit to address community needs that have surfaced due to the drought. To date, more than 700 counties have been declared disasters areas within the 1,271 eligible Grow Communities counties.
            Now through Nov. 30, 2012, farmers can enter online, and rural community members can submit their ideas at www.growcommunities.com or by calling 1-877-267-3332.The Monsanto Fund will select one winner at random from each of the eligible counties and announce winning farmers and recipient nonprofits in January 2013. 
            Eligible counties in Kansas include Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barton, Bourbon, Brown, Butler, Chase, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Greenwood, Harvey, Haskell, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Johnson, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Labette, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Linn, Logan, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Miami, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morris, Morton, Nemaha, Neosho, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Rawlins, Reno, Republic, Rice, Riley, Rooks, Saline, Scott, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Thomas, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson and Woodson.           
            America’s Farmers Grow Communities is sponsored by the Monsanto Fund to highlight the important contributions farmers make everyday to our society and to help them positively impact their communities. This program is part of the Monsanto Fund’s overall effort to support rural America.


About the Monsanto Fund
The Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the farm communities where farmers and Monsanto Company employees live and work. Visit the Monsanto Fund at www.monsantofund.org.