The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is entering into cooperative agreements with each U.S. State and Territory for Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program Cooperative Agreements (RFSI).
Donor Name: Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA)
State: Delaware
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/30/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The overall goal of RFSI is to create more and better processing options for local and regional producers across the specialty crops, dairy, grain (for food), aquaculture, and other sectors (excluding meat and poultry products, which are funded through other USDA programs), and by targeting gaps and opportunities in the pandemic assistance, Food Systems Transformation (FST) programs, and existing USDA grant programs that support the agricultural supply chain.
This is a competitive grant program. The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) will award grants, as a reimbursement, to eligible applicants for projects or activities related to processing, transportation, aggregation, storing, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products. Ineligible products include meat and poultry, fiber, wildcaught seafood, exclusively animal feed and forage products, landscaping products, tobacco, and dietary supplements.
Funding Information
Using a standardized review process, the DDA will award:
- Infrastructure Project Grants with a minimum of $100,000 to a maximum of $1,156,597 for infrastructure projects and activities.
- Simplified Equipment-Only Project Grants, which uses a simplified application to fund smaller grants between $10,000 and $100,000. The Simplified Equipment-Only option is a Fixed Price Grant, meaning it will fund only equipment purchases (and not associated facility upgrades, staffing, or other costs, and the amount awarded will only equal the cost of the equipment up to $100,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors.
- Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, and distribution of targeted agricultural products.
- For-profit entities operating middle-of-the-supply chain activities, such as processing, aggregation, or distribution of targeted agricultural products, whose activities are primarily focused on the benefit of local and regional producers, and that meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards are eligible.
- For-profit entities must meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards matched to industries described in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
- Local government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, and distribution of targeted agricultural products.
- Tribal governments operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, and distribution of targeted agricultural products.
- 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’ middle-of-the-supplychain activities such as processing, aggregation, and distribution of targeted agricultural products.
All applying businesses and organizations must be domestically owned, and project facilities must be physically located in Delaware.
For more information, visit DDA.
