The First State Food System Program, administered by the Delaware Council on Farm & Food Policy (a subset of the Delaware Department of Agriculture) provides grant funding to entities that grow, process, store, transport, distribute, or sell food in the State of Delaware.
Donor Name: Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA)
State: Delaware
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/19/2023
Size of the Grant: $2,500 to $150,000
Details:
Through this program, funding is available to Delaware farmers and a diverse range of food supply chain entities. Awarded funds will aid local entities to expand capacity, coordinate with partners in their communities, and do their part to build resilience in Delaware’s food system.
The Council awarded $670,000 in 2022, funding 14 projects across Delaware. Projects addressing food retail and distribution received roughly 14%, food storage and aggregation projects encompassed 21.5%, while 43% funded food production and processing projects. The remaining funds were awarded to research, tech, and education-based projects.
While not an all-inclusive list, examples of eligible supply chain operations include:
- Storage: food hubs
- Transportation: fleet coordinators, logistics
- Processing: incubator facilities, commercial kitchens
- Distribution: retail outlets, pantries, food trucks, single or multi-site grocery stores, cooperative grocers, corner stores, mobile markets, restaurants, farmers markets, on-farm stores
The Council is working with the Delaware Community Foundation (DCF) to facilitate the First State Food System Program through its grant application portal. This partnership allows applicants to apply to this grant program more efficiently and learn more about additional opportunities available through DCF. While DCF is facilitating the grant application process, this is not a grant program of the DCF.
Funding Information
The First State Food System Program will again offer grants from $2,500 to $150,000. Projects may last for less than one year or multiple years. Funds may be used to make specific, one-time purchases for equipment or other capital expenses or expended in numerous ways to cover various operational, administrative, and or capital expenses.
For more information, visit First State Food System Program.