The Arizona Department of Agriculture is pleased to present the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Infrastructure Grants (IG) Grant.
Donor Name: Arizona Department of Agriculture
State: Arizona
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/01/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The purpose of this program is to build resilience in the middle-of-the-supply-chain and strengthen local and regional food systems by creating new revenue streams for Arizona’s producers.
Funding Priorities
- Transportation and distribution – vehicles, especially refrigerated, and shared distribution resources (staff, equipment such as a pallet lift) to minimize the amount of duplicated miles and labor hours spent moving food from production locations to consumer
- Modernize or expand existing facilities or construction of new facilities for the following supply chain activities:
-
- Cold storage- refrigerated food storage resources (walk-in, high volume capacity, shared, and geographically accessible) for continuous cold chain (storage & transportation, trained personnel, efficient management/coordination procedures)
- Processing/kitchens: shared, licensed food processing and preparation space to produce value-added local goods (changing or transforming a product from its original state to a more valuable state)
- Aggregation – facility to maintain cold chain while aggregating product in preparation for distribution to consumer
- Food hub coordination – shared and coordinated “drop points” for cold storage, processing, aggregation, and distribution to consumers; supporting logistics and collaboration to move food regionally and state-wide across a network of growers.
- Labor – food safety training, workforce development, processing, aggregation, and distribution staffing.
- Administrative support – licensing/insurance support, paperwork and funding application support, crop planning.
Funding Information
The minimum grant request shall not be less than $100,000.00 and the maximum grant request shall not exceed $1,000,000.00.
Grant Period
Project duration shall not exceed 2 ½ years (30 months).
Eligible Applicants
Entities eligible for Infrastructure Grants made by AZDA will be:
- Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors
- 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 for the benefit of local and regional producers, and that meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards are eligible.
- Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products
- Local government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products
- Tribal governments operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, 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-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural product.
For more information, visit AZA.
