U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that the USDA has awarded over $270 million to date through cooperative agreements with state departments of agriculture to build resilience across the middle of the food supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems. A portion of funds is being divided between seven states through recent partnerships.
The funding is awarded through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
Through a competitive grant process, states and territories will issue subawards of infrastructure grants to agricultural producers or processors, nonprofit organizations, local government entities, tribal governments, and institutions such as schools, universities, or hospitals. Some states will also use funding to support supply chain coordination and technical assistance to increase resiliency within the food system.
“These unprecedented investments into our nation’s supply chain infrastructure will not only benefit consumers by ensuring they have dependable access to fresh and locally produced food, the investments will benefit producers and rural communities by providing more options and creating more, new and better markets for small and mid-size producers,” said Vilsack in a statement. “USDA also recognizes that the work through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program is made possible by the strong partnerships we maintain with state agricultural agencies.”
Through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, the most recent partnerships with the following states will fund projects that expand capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of food products, said the USDA. This can include specialty crops, dairy, grains, aquaculture, and more, but exclude meat and poultry.
• Colorado was awarded $4.1 million with $3 million available in infrastructure grants.
• Connecticut was awarded $2.7 million with $2.1 million available in infrastructure grants.
• Delaware was awarded $2.1 million with $1.7 million available in infrastructure grants.
• Kentucky was awarded $8.6 million with $7 million available in infrastructure grants.
• Louisiana was awarded $6.2 million with $4.6 million available in infrastructure grants.
• Utah was awarded $3 million with $2.3 million available in infrastructure grants.
• West Virginia was awarded $4.5 million with $3.6 million available in infrastructure grants.
Through the program and in addition to the Infrastructure Grant funding, the states will support supply chain coordination and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses operating in processing, aggregation, and distribution.
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