The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), is entering into a cooperative agreement with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to work in partnership to make
competitive subawards in the form of grants to eligible entities to support infrastructure needs along the middle of the food supply chain across the state.
Donor Name: Texas Department of Agriculture
State: Texas
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/15/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The purpose of the RFSI Program is to build resilience across the middle of the state’s food supply chain for food crops. For this program, ” middle-of-the-food-supply-chain ” refers to activities and operations that occur in between post-harvesting of food crops and before food goods are being sold at a store or market, excluding the marketing of food products or services.
The RFSI Program will offer two grant types, “Equipment-Only” and “Infrastructure” grants, to eligible entities to support the expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.
The RFSI “Infrastructure” grant supports the expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.
The RFSI Program also aims to:
- Support development of value-added products available to consumers;
- Support proposals that provide fair prices, fair wages and new and safe job opportunities that keep profits in rural communities; and
- Increase diversity in processing options in terms of business model approaches, geography, and availability to underserved communities
TDA, at the direction of the USDA, will prioritize grant applications that benefit the following:
- Historically underserved farmers and ranchers (as defined by USDA); or
- Processors and other middle-of-the-food-supply-chain small businesses that qualify under U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) defined categories and meet the SBA size standard for federal contracting.
Funding Information
- Funding minimum: $100,000.00
- Funding maximum: $3,000,000.00
Project Period
3-years to complete project.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications will be accepted from the following individuals, organizations, and/or institutions:
- Agricultural producers or processors or groups of producers/processors;
- Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities;
- For-profit, small business, organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities that meet the Small Business Administration (SBA)size standard for federal contracting;
- Local government & tribal government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities; an
- Institutions such as schools, universities, or hospitals bringing producers together to establish cooperative or shared infrastructure or invest in equipment that will benefit multiple producers.
For more information, visit TDA.
