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Farm and Food Workers Relief Grant – Applications due March 10
USDA is accepting applications for the new Farm and Food Workers Relief (FFWR) grant program. The program will provide $665 million to fund competitive grant applications to provide relief to farmworkers and meatpacking workers who incurred pandemic-related health and safety costs. Eligible state agencies, tribal entities and non-profit organizations serving farmworkers and meatpacking workers can apply now through March 10, 2022, at www.grants.gov for grants ranging from $5 million to $50 million.
NIFA’s Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program – Applications due January 31
The Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) is a farm to school program that supports projects that bring together stakeholders from the distinct parts of the food system to increase the capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education within host organizations or entities, such as school cafeterias and classrooms, while fostering higher levels of community engagement between farms and school systems. The goal of these efforts is to not only increase access to school meals for underserved children, but also to dramatically improve their quality. FASLP is also focused on the development of leadership skills, knowledge, and qualities necessary to prepare students for food and agricultural and related careers in the private sector, government, and academia. For more information, please see The FASLP Request for Applications . The submission deadline is January 31, 2022.
Building a More Competitive and Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain
USDA is taking a number of actions to invest in the meat and poultry supply chain through financial assistance, regulatory action, and technical assistance. Learn more about the administration’s meat and poultry related plans.
Webinar Series Update
 February Webinar – Making Lemonade Out of Local Lemons: Innovative Multi-Sector Strategies for Leveraging Emergency Supply Chain Funds
Thanks to feedback from webinar registrants, we are adding a webinar on funding and resources available for local and regional food enterprises. We are in unprecedented times with regards to the availability of state and federal funding for local and regional food supply chains. Join us for a webinar that explores and highlights innovative approaches to leveraging these resources to strengthen multi-sector initiatives. We look forward to seeing you!
Register for the webinar and review archived webinars recordings and summaries at our project website.
 On February 25, the Agricultural Outlook Forum will include a session titled, Leveraging Data to Build Resilient Local and Regional Food Systems, which will highlight local food system practitioners who incorporate data into their regular business strategy. Panelists will discuss how they use data and explore how stakeholders can grow their businesses and create more connected supply chains.
As part of the Local and Regional Food Systems Response to COVID-19 project, in the fall of 2020 a team of researchers conducted a national survey of over 5,000 households. The survey provides important insights into how the pandemic changed the way that U.S. households made food choices and if some of those changes will remain post pandemic. The Consumer Food Insights series provides information about what we learned to help guide businesses along local and regional supply chains.
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumers began diversifying their food purchasing. For instance, 35% of survey respondents purchased from a new market channel between April 2020 and September 2020. More specifically, 6% of survey respondents tried a new independent restaurant for the first time, while farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions (CSA), and artisan markets each had 3% of respondents trying their channels for the first time. Also of note, 17% of respondents reported that they more broadly explored new food market choices, trying two or more new channels during those months.
Whether this initial food buying experimentation will result in long-term market channel engagement by consumers remains to be seen. In Figure 1, we present the percentage of these first-time buyers who indicated that they were still using these new market channels in September 2020. At least 31% of respondents expressed continued use, with the artisan or specialty markets (e.g., bakeries, delis, fish markets) having the greatest consumer retention rate.
Since January 2021 when we launched Seeds of Success to share highlights from Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP) grant recipients, we have published 24 stories!
If you scroll to the bottom of the Seeds of Success homepage, you can see a map of all FMLFPP grants and a summary by state. We look forward to continuing to highlight projects from across the country.
If you are looking for a story about shared kitchens or culinary training, check out Alchemist Community Development Corporation and CommonWealth Kitchen, or maybe you are interested in farmers market expansions, Delcambre Seafood and Farmers Market and Athens Land Trust share some good insights. Perhaps your organization works with beginning farmers, World Farmers and Lutheran Services in Iowa have worked closely with new farmers. Santa Fe Community Foundation and Sustainable Molokai share mobile market successes and Farm Commons and the Food Finance Institute focus on training producers and food hubs on legal and financial issues.
National Bison Association
 With over 1,100 members in all 50 states, the National Bison Association (NBA)celebrates the heritage of American bison and works to create a sustainable future for the bison business. Most of these producers are small, with herds of less than 40 animals. Bison producers also tend to be located at significant distances from major urban markets. In 2017, NBA received a Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) grant to develop curriculum, workshops, and marketing materials to better support bison producers’ business needs. With FMPP funds, the National Bison Association focused on reaching new customers with a new Where to Buy directory and online cooking videos.
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