The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has a cooperative agreement with Wisconsin under the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. Through this agreement, USDA and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection are working together to offer $27 million in competitive grant funding for projects designed to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain. Wisconsin is accepting applications for this Infrastructure Grant funding through March 6, 2024.

AMS also has a cooperative agreement with Texas under the RFSI. Through this agreement, USDA and Texas are working together to offer $11.5 million in competitive grant funding. Texas is accepting applications for this funding through Feb. 15, 2024.

In May 2023, USDA announced the availability of up to $420 million through RFSI to strengthen local and regional food systems. Through this program, AMS has entered into cooperative agreements with state agencies, commissions or departments responsible for agriculture, commercial food processing, seafood, or food system and distribution activities or commerce activities in states or U.S. territories. RFSI is authorized by the American Rescue Plan.

Using RFSI funding, DATCP will fund infrastructure projects that expand processing capacities, increase food-storage space, reduce energy use, increase commercial kitchen space, improve aggregation and distribution, improve marketing and branding and increase access to value-added markets for small farms. This ultimately aims to create more diverse local and regional market options and additional economic opportunities for communities, allowing them to retain more of the value-chain dollar. The state’s priorities are informed by stakeholder engagement and outreach to underserved producers to better understand their needs.

“This program will support those processing, transporting, and distributing locally-produced food including dairy and specialty crops,” said Randy Romanski, secretary of DATCP. “Thank you to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the partnership on the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program and funding. This funding will allow DATCP to continue to build resiliency across the food supply system in Wisconsin.”

Using RFSI funding, the Texas Department of Agriculture will fund projects that develop more market opportunities for the processing of food products, increase the capacity for post-harvest storing and processing of food crops and implement specialized equipment, including equipment and infrastructure for cold storage of food crops and products. The state’s priorities are informed by stakeholder engagement and outreach to underserved producers to better understand their needs.

“The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant program is a great resource for hardworking Texas producers,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. “I highly encourage all agricultural producers, processors, distributors, non-profit organizations, and all other eligible entities to apply.”

Through the program and in addition to the Infrastructure Grant funding, the Texas Department of Agriculture will support supply chain coordination and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses operating in processing, aggregation and distribution — all critical activities to support access to more markets for farmers.

Those interested in receiving a subaward in Wisconsin should apply directly through DATCP through March 6, 2024. Those interested in receiving a subaward in Texas should apply directly through the Texas Department of Agriculture by Feb. 15, 2024. AMS encourages applications that serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, underserved producers, veteran producers and underserved communities. 

For more information, visit the AMS Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure webpage.

Source: USDA's AMS