The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP). FMPP’s purpose is to support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer markets to increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
State: All states
Territories: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 05/16/2022
Size of the Grant: $750,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) funds projects that develop, coordinate, and expand direct producer-to-consumer markets to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products. The program focuses on:
- Supporting and promoting domestic direct producer-to-consumer (including direct producer-toretail, direct producer-to-restaurant, and direct producer-to-institutional marketing) marketing such as farmers markets, roadside stands, agritourism activities, community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, or online sales;
- Encouraging the development of value-added agricultural products;
- Developing marketing strategies for producers of local food and value-added products;
- Facilitating regional food chain coordination and mid-tier value chain development;
- Promoting new business opportunities and marketing strategies to reduce on-farm food waste;
- Responding to changing technology needs in direct producer-to-consumer marketing; and
- Covering expenses related to costs incurred in obtaining food safety certification and improvements to food safety practices and equipment
Priority
Priority consideration will be given to projects that benefit communities located in areas of concentrated poverty with limited access to supermarkets or locally or regionally grown food as defined below.
If requesting low income/low food access (LI/LA) priority consideration, the project’s implementation address must be in a LI/LA census tract, as defined by the four major map layers on the ERS Food Access Research Atlas. “Implementation address” refers to the street address or census tract location within the targeted community (LI/LA census tract) at which the applicant plans to conduct or deliver approved project activities.
The applicant must provide its census tract(s) for at least one LI/LA address (priority area). If your organization or business is located in and/or primarily serves at least one LI/LA community, your application will be considered under this priority area.
Project Types
FMPP offers Capacity Building (CB) and Community Development Training and Technical Assistance (CTA) project types.
Funding Information
Approximately $13.5 million is available to fund FMPP applications under this solicitation. FMPP Capacity Building projects range from $50,000 to $250,000, while Community Development Training and Technical Assistance projects range from $100,000 to $750,000.
Grant Duration
The performance period cannot be more than 36 months (3 years) in length.
Eligibility Criteria
All applicants must be domestic entities owned, operated, and located within the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or Tribal Governments. Eligible applicants include:
Entity Type Description
- Agricultural Businesses or Cooperatives
- Business entities, member-owned entities or businesses that provide, hold, deliver, transport, offer, or sell agricultural products or services for member benefit as well as the organization or other business that they represent.
- Producer Networks or Association
- Producer group- or member-owned organizations or businesses that provide, offer, or sell agricultural products or services through a common distribution system for the mutual member benefit as well as organizations or other businesses that assist, represent, or serve producers or producer networks.
- CSA Networks or Associations
- Formal groups of farms that work collectively to offer consumers regular (usually weekly) deliveries of locally grown farm products during one or more harvest season(s) often on a subscription or membership basis. This includes organizations or other businesses that assist, serve, or represent CSAs or CSA networks. Customers have access to a selected share or range of farm products offered by the group of farmers based on partial or total advance payment of a subscription or membership fee.
- Food Council
- Food policy council or food and farm system network that represents multiple organizations involved in the production, processing, and consumption of food, as well as local, Tribal, or State governments; and that addresses food and farm-related issues and needs within city, county, State, Tribal region, multicounty region, or other region designated by the food council or food system network.
- Local Governments
- Any unit of government within a State, including a county; borough; municipality; city; town; township; parish; local public authority, including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (50 Stat. 888 (Pub. L. No. 75—412); special district; school district; intrastate district; council of governments, whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law; and any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-state,
regional, or intra-state or local government.
- Any unit of government within a State, including a county; borough; municipality; city; town; township; parish; local public authority, including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (50 Stat. 888 (Pub. L. No. 75—412); special district; school district; intrastate district; council of governments, whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law; and any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-state,
- Nonprofit Corporations
- Any organization or institution, including nonprofits with State or IRS 501 (c) status and accredited institutions of higher education, where no part of the organization’s or institution’s net earnings inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
- Public Benefit Corporations
- Corporations organized to construct or operate a public improvement, the profits from which inure to the benefit of one or more State or to the people therein.
- Economic Development Corporations
- Organizations whose missions are to improve, maintain, develop, and/or market or promote a specific geographic area.
- Regional Farmers Market Authorities
- Entities that establish and enforce regional, State, or county policies and jurisdiction over State, regional, or county farmers markets. State agencies are eligible if their State’s regulatory statutes identify the specific State agency as a regional farmers market authority.
- Tribal Governments
- Governing bodies or governmental agencies of any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community (including any native village as defined in Section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 85 Stat. 688 (43 U.S.C. § 1602)) certified by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
