The Connecticut Department of Agriculture announces the availability of grant funds to build resilience across the middle of the food supply chain.
Donor Name: Connecticut Department of Agriculture
State: Connecticut
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/10/2024
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The purpose of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is to build and establish 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, and fair wages; and create new and safe job opportunities.
RFSI seeks to expand capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of food products grown in Connecticut.
The food supply chain involves the following stages:
- Production
- Processing
- Aggregation and Distribution, and
- Markets and Consumers.
This program supports food system crops and products that are intentionally produced for human consumption. The program aims to:
- Expand capacity for processing, aggregation, and distribution of agricultural products to create more and better markets for producers;
- Modernize manufacturing, tracking, storage, distribution, and information technology systems;
- Enhance worker safety through adoption of new technologies or investment in equipment or facility improvements;
- Improve the capacity and efficiency of entities to comply with federal, state, and local food safety requirements;
- Improve operations through training opportunities including through multi-lingual training opportunities;
- Support construction of a new, middle of the supply change-related facility;
- Modernize or expand an existing facility (including expansion and modifications to existing buildings and/or construction of new buildings at existing facilities);
- Construction of wastewater or greywater management structures, etc.;
- Modernize processing and manufacturing equipment, storage equipment, transportation-related equipment; and
- Develop, customize, or install equipment that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency in water use, improves air and/or water quality, and/or meets one or more of USDA’s climate action goals
Funding Priorities
- Projects that increase aggregation of farm products through food hubs and informal producer networks, which focuses on, but is not exclusive to, wholesale buyers.
- Projects that increase the number of and access to processing facilities including commercial kitchens and co-packers, to preserve farm products and create value-added food products.
- Projects that increase delivery infrastructure (such as vehicles) benefiting multiple farm business with eligible products and cold storage for aggregated produce, dairy, and aquaculture products.
- Projects that support underserved communities and demonstrate local support for the project.
Funding Information
- CT DoAg anticipates that approximately $1.7 million.
- Awards from $100,000 to $250,000.
Project Period
Projects can be funded for up to 30 months (2 years, 6 months).
Eligibility Criteria
Entities eligible for Infrastructure Grants are:
- Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors conducting middle of the supply chain activities.
- Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities;
- For-profit entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities whose activities are primarily focused for the benefit of local and regional producers and that meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards;
- Local government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities;
- Tribal governments operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities;
- 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 through middle-of-the-supply-chain activities
For more information, visit Connecticut Department of Agriculture.
