The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (Department) is seeking applications for the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program.
Donor Name: Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/29/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA AMS) is partnering with state Departments of Agriculture to invest in food supply chain resilience, market access, and value-added processing infrastructure through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI).
The purpose of the Maine Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is to build resilience across Maine’s middle of the food supply chain. Funds will support expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of Maine-produced food and beverage products, including specialty crops (farm cultivated and processed for human food consumption), dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.
Funding Information
- The Department anticipates making multiple awards of no less than $100,000 and no more than $250,000 each.
- Projects will begin no earlier than September 1, 2024, and must be completed by May 24, 2027.
Eligibility Criteria
All applicant businesses and organizations must be domestically owned, and applicants’ facilities must be physically located in Maine. Applicants doing business along the state’s border or have locations in multiple states should only apply in one state to avoid duplication of federal funds. Applicants that have received prior state or federal funding are eligible to apply for RFSI funding for a specific Project that will have distinct and measurable outcomes, activities, and expenditures that will not be funded through state or federal funds.
Entities eligible for RFSI Infrastructure Project Grants are:
- 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.
- For-profit entities operating middle of the supply chain activities such as processing, aggregation, or distribution of targeted agricultural products, whose activities are primarily focused for the benefit of local and regional producers, and that meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards
- For-profit entities must meet the eligibility requirements of the SBA small business size standards matched to industries described in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
- 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 Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry.