USDA Regional Food Business Centers Program

USDA Regional Food Business Centers finalists have been selected. 

Updated 5/3/2023 - USDA has conducted a competitive application process and selected 12 finalists to serve as leads of the Regional Food Business Centers. Information will be available and updated on this page as these cooperative agreements become finalized on a rolling basis throughout the summer. Please check back for any updates.  View the press release.

The selected 12 finalists are: 

  1. Appalachia USDA Regional Food Business Center - Rural Action, Inc. 
  2. Delta USDA Regional Food Business Center - Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworker Opportunities 
  3. Rio Grande Colonias USDA Regional Food Business Center - Texas A&M AgriLife 
  4. Great Lakes Midwest USDA Regional Food Business Center - Michigan State University 
  5. Heartland USDA Regional Food Business Center - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  6. Islands and Remote Areas USDA Regional Food Business Center - Hawaii Good Food Alliance 
  7. North Central USDA Regional Food Business Center - Region Five Development Commission 
  8. Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center - National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Foundation 
  9. Northwest and Rocky Mountain USDA Regional Food Business Center - Colorado State University 
  10. Southeast USDA Regional Food Business Center - Georgia Minority Outreach Network 
  11. Southwest USDA Regional Food Business Center - University of California 
  12. National Intertribal Food Business Center - Intertribal Agriculture Council 

This map of the United States that shows the names of the 12 regional food business centers and their associated regions. The centers are named National Intertribal Food Business Center, Northwest and Rocky Mountains Food Business Center, Southwest Food Business Center, North Central Food Business Center, Heartland Food Business Center, Rio Grande ColoniasFood Business Center, Great Lakes Midwest Food Business Center, Delta Food Business Center, Appalachia Food Business Center, Northeast Food Business Center, Southwest Food Business Center, and Island and Remote Areas Food Business Center. Clicking on this map will open a PDF file that describes the regions in more detail.

The USDA Regional Food Business Centers will support a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system.  These Regional Food Centers will support producers by providing localized assistance to access local and regional supply chains, including linking producers to wholesalers and distributors. They will provide technical assistance needed to access new markets, access to federal, state, and local resources, and will assist small- and mid-sized producers in overcoming barriers to market access, with a focus on underserved farmers, ranchers, and food businesses.  No match is required. 

USDA Regional Food Business Centers will have three main responsibilities:

  • Coordination - The Regional Food Centers will act as regional hubs coordinating across geographic areas with USDA, other federal, state, and tribal agencies with relevant resources, regional commissions, stakeholders, and the other Regional Food Centers. They will engage with stakeholders and partners to develop and implement strategic and funding plans for serving the region through technical assistance and capacity building. They will conduct outreach to underserved communities and businesses.
  • Technical Assistance - The Regional Food Centers will provide direct business technical assistance to small- and mid-sized food and farm businesses (producers, processors, aggregators, distributors, and other businesses within the food supply chain) and food value and supply chain coordination. Each Regional Food Center will identify priority areas for technical assistance (e.g., aggregation/distribution, specialty crop processing for institutions) for the region it plans to serve.
  • Capacity Building – The Regional Food Centers will provide financial assistance through business builder subawards up to $100,000 to support projects focused on regional needs and businesses that are working towards expansion and other investment. These subawards may support staff time, business planning activities, software implementation, the purchase of special purpose equipment, such as food safety, processing and packaging equipment, and value chain coordination, and other expenses associated as outlined in the RFA.

For further questions, visit our list of FAQs or contact us at RegionalFoodCenters@usda.gov

This graphic shows general information for the regional food business centers cooperative agreement. There will be at least six funded centers with a funding range of fifteen to fifty million dollars. The award duration is 60 months. There are four geographic priority areas and USDA plans to select a center that serves all or part of each area. These are colonias, Delta and the southeast, Appalachia, and a National Tribal Center. The Centers will reach all or part of at least three states or a 400 mile radius. Applications including locations outside of the contiguous US may propose a region serving non-contiguous areas of the US or territories.

Graphic showing the definitions of four key Regional Business Center terms, lead applicant, key partners, project team, and collaborators. The Lead Applicant is the one eligible non-federal entity (NFE) within the group of Key Partners that bears the ultimate financial and programmatic responsibility for the cooperative agreement. Key partners are a minimum of three eligible non-federal entities that share in the planning, management, and implementation of the Center. Key Partners must come from at least two different entity types (see RFA), and must all be located in, and have a history of serving, the geographic region the Center will serve. Key Partners must provide letters of commitment and sign a MOU. The project team is composed of staff from the Key Partner organizations and is the group of individuals who collectively manage the financial and operational decisions of the Regional Food Business Centers. Resumes and personnel costs for members of the project team are required. Collaborators are organizations who provide distinct services to the Centers but do not have a role in overall planning, management and implementation of the Center itself. These organizations should provide letters of support outlining services they will provide to the Center and the estimated cost of those services. Resumes for Collaborator staff are not required.