The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture Marketing Services (AMS), is entering into cooperative agreement with Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) for the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program Cooperative Agreements (RFSI).
Donor Name: Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD)
State: Michigan
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/17/2024
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The purpose of the Michigan RFSI program is to build resilience in the middle-of-thefood-supply-chain and strengthen local and regional food systems by creating new revenue streams for Michigan producers. MDARD will make subawards in the form of Infrastructure Grants to middle-of-the-supply businesses to create more diverse local and regional market options and create more economic opportunities for communities, allowing them to retain more of the value chain dollar. RFSI investments aim to create a food systems infrastructure to support competitive and profitable market access for domestic farm products.
The program also aims to:

Support development of value‐added products available to consumers;
Support proposals that provide fair prices, fair wages and new and safe job opportunities that keep profits in rural communities; and
Increase diversity in processing options in terms of business model approaches, geography, and availability to underserved communities.

Priorities
USDA intends for RFSI program to focus funding Infrastructure Grant activities that:

Expand capacity for processing, aggregation, and distribution of agricultural products to create more and better markets for producers;
Modernize manufacturing, tracking, storage, and information technology systems;
Enhance worker safety through adoption of new technologies or investment in equipment or facility improvements;
Improve the capacity of entities to comply with federal, state, and local food safety requirements;
Improve operations through training opportunities;
Support construction of a new 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 management structures, etc.;
Modernize processing and manufacturing 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 Information

Michigan has been awarded over $10 million dollars.
Equipment Only Grant: These projects offer a simplified application to fund smaller grants from $10,000 up to $100,000
Infrastructure Grants: Infrastructure grants will have a maximum award of $475,000.

Eligibility Criteria
The following entities are eligible for Infrastructure Grants made by MDARD:

Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors
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 MDARD.