Contact: Allison Ross, aross@utah.gov
Recently, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) was awarded $3,043,040 through the USDA AMS Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program. The purpose of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, fair wages, and new and safe job opportunities.
Through this program UDAF will be issuing competitive subaward grants to support the development of the middle-of-the-supply-chain for Utah-based food and farm businesses. Grant projects may include activities that support the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products. Eligible food products include dairy, grains for human consumption, fruits and vegetables, aquaculture, and other food products (excluding meat and poultry products and animal feed products).
UDAF may issue two types of grants through this program:
- Infrastructure grants of $100,000 to $2 million. Grant recipients are required to contribute 50% of the total proposed project cost as a match to federal funding. For historically underserved farmers and ranchers, or for other businesses that qualify under SBA categories of Small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business, or veteran-owned small business, the required match funding is reduced to 25%.
- Simplified equipment-only grants of $10,000 to $100,000; no cost-match required.
The grant application window is anticipated to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
