The Rural BusinessCooperative Service (Agency), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces that it is accepting fiscal year (FY) 2023 applications for the Agriculture Innovation Demonstration Center (AIC) program.
Donor Name: Rural Business-Cooperative Service
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/06/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,000,000
Details:
The primary objective of the program is to provide grants to Agriculture Innovation Centers that will provide technical assistance to agricultural producers to market value-added agricultural products.
This program supports Rural Development’s (RD) mission of improving the quality of life for rural Americans and commitment to directing resources to those who most need them.
Funding Information
- Minimum Award: $600,000.
- Maximum Award: $1,000,000.
Project Period
3 years
Eligibility Criteria
- Small businesses
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- State governments Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- City or township governments County governments
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Funds may be used?
Grant and matching funds may be used to operate an agriculture innovation center, and to provide the following services to agricultural producers:
- Business development services, including feasibility studies and business plans.
Market development services, including marketing plans, branding, and customer identification. - Financial advisory services, including assistance with preparing financial statements, and assessing financing options.
- Process development services, including engineering services, scale production assessments, and systems development.
- Organizational assistance, including legal and technical advisory services.
- Value chain coordination, including connecting an agricultural producer to a distribution system, processing facility, or commercial kitchen.
- Product development (excluding research and development), including concept testing, feasibility and cost analysis, product taste-testing, demographic and other types of consumer analysis, production analysis, and evaluation of packaging and labeling options.
- Grants of $5,000 or less to agricultural producers for the above services, where the aggregate amount does not exceed $50,000.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
