The Office of Food Systems Resilience (OFSR), in partnership with the Office of Grants Management (OGM), is soliciting grant applications from local food aggregation and distribution companies with experience in market development for small farmers to establish and maintain a facility in Montgomery County, Maryland under the County’s FY2026 Food Aggregation Grant Program. This facility, and the grantee selected to run it (“Operator”), will aggregate, distribute, and market food grown by regional farmers to wholesale markets- including, but not limited to, Montgomery County institutions and agencies- such as schools, senior centers, hospitals, food banks, and correctional facilities.  

$550,00 in funding is available to fund one award from OFSR to support startup, construction and retrofitting of necessary facilities, ongoing operations, and to purchase food over the initial one-year program period; the performance period of this award is anticipated to cover a four year period from June 30, 2026 to June 30, 2030. Multi-year funding across the four fiscal years will range from $250,000 to $500,000 in grant funds and/or food purchasing commitments, pending funding availability and grantee performance, with a maximum of $500,000 total available in a single fiscal year. 

This application consists of a two stage process. Stage One will assess eligibility for grant funding whereas Stage Two will assess fit and alignment for this funding. Applicants who pass Stage One will be invited to participate in Stage Two. The Stage Two dates and Notification of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be released approximately four weeks after the Stage One application closing date. If an applicant misses the Stage One application deadline, they will not be eligible to submit an application for Stage Two.