Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2024 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has a cooperative agreement with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) under the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI). Through this agreement, USDA and New York are working together to offer over $14.7 million in competitive grant funding for projects designed to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain. New York is accepting applications for this Infrastructure Grant funding through June 28, 2024.
In May 2023, USDA announced the availability of up to $420 million through RFSI to strengthen local and regional food systems. Through this program, AMS has entered into cooperative agreements with state agencies, commissions, or departments responsible for agriculture, commercial food processing, seafood, or food system and distribution activities or commerce activities in states or U.S. territories. RFSI is authorized by the American Rescue Plan. Updates for each state’s Request for Applications for the RFSI program are available on the AMS website.
“This partnership between USDA and New York is allowing critical funding to reach areas of the supply chain that need it most,” said USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The projects funded through this program will create new opportunities for the region’s small and midsize producers to thrive, expand access to nutritious food options, and increase supply chain resiliency.”
Using RFSI funding, AGM will partner with Farm and Food Growth Fund, Inc (FFGF) to administer the grant program to fund projects that expand statewide capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of targeted local and regional agricultural food products (excluding meat and poultry products). Successful projects will focus on increasing the supply of New York-sourced food products available in New York markets. Competitive project applications will benefit multiple producers and multiple markets.
New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “With this RFSI funding, we have an opportunity to make a real impact on the resilience of New York State’s food system – modernizing and supporting the construction of agricultural facilities, improving training, supporting the purchase of new equipment, and so much more. Designed based on a robust response from our agricultural community, these programs are set to make a real difference in our state and we look forward to awarding the funds to businesses and organizations operating at the middle of the supply chain who connect the state’s farmers to consumers. I thank USDA for its great partnership and forward-thinking programming, giving us an extra boost in our work to support New York farmers and agribusinesses statewide.”
Those interested in receiving a subaward should apply directly through FFGF by June 28, 2024. AMS encourages applications that serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, underserved producers, veteran producers, and underserved communities.
In addition to the Infrastructure Grant funding, AGM is partnering with Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust to provide supply chain coordination and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses operating in processing, aggregation and distribution—all critical activities to support access to more and better markets for farmers. AGM is also partnering with the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Harvest New York Program will conduct an updated assessment of New York State processing infrastructure to identify barriers and opportunities for growth, as well as an analysis of the State’s institutional purchasing to provide market information to New York State producers.
For more information, visit the AMS Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure webpage.
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