Now Accepting Applications: USDA’s Regional Food Business Centers
On September 7 the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced their Request for Applications for the 2022 USDA Regional Food Business Centers. These Regional Food Business Centers will serve as the cornerstone of USDA’s development of local and regional supply chains. They will offer coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building support to small and mid-sized food and farm businesses, with the goal of creating a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system.
Full program information can be found in the Request for Applications. Eligibility criteria, the application process, and supporting documents, is available on the USDA Regional Food Business Centers Program webpage. Please share with stakeholders and groups that may be interested!
Important Dates:
Application Opened: Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Program Webinar: Monday, September 19, 2022, 3:00 p.m. EST; Register Here Application Closes: November 22, 2022, 11:59 p.m. EST
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The AMS LAMP Navigator is an interactive online map that depicts all AMS grant programs within the Local Agricultural Market Program (LAMP) from 2006-2020. These grants include the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), and Regional Food Systems Partnerships (RFSP).
Users can search for grantees by theme and/or grant type and browse through the collection. The data are categorized based on the information provided by the recipient on grant applications and include project types like Marketing and Promotion, Farm to Institution, Infrastructure, and Training, among others. Users will also find that the map totals the grantees automatically and color-codes them by type. This publicly accessible tool helps track and share the various projects in a streamlined way. It is a great resource in addition to Seeds of Success that showcases the breadth and depth of our grant funding across the U.S.
As an innovative and newly emerging sector in the food supply chain, shared kitchens enable diverse local food businesses to produce, store, and sell their products through a wide range of channels. Given their relatively recent growth, AMS, Colorado State University, and the Food Corridor conducted a survey of business owners operating out of shared kitchens in 2021.
Here are some interesting findings:
50% of kitchen respondents noted that their business was established within the last five years, making this a fast-emerging market. Another 28% were established within the last 5-9 years.
Owners operating out of shared kitchens were more racially diverse than the U.S. population at large and most identified as female (61%). Black and African American and Asian respondents made up 18% and 11% of the sample, respectively (compared to 14.2% and 7.2%, respectively in the broader U.S. population, according to the 2020 U.S. census).
Most businesses with small sales numbers reported selling into farmers markets. This represents 64% of businesses with less than $40,000 in annual sales. Businesses reporting high sales numbers (over $80,000 in annual sales) by contrast, were more likely to sell through grocery or retail outlets.
These operations mean business! More than half of the 179 total respondents stated that the business they operate in the shared kitchens is their primary occupation, while 34.1% stated it was supplementary. Only 3.4% called it a hobby.
Shared kitchens are becoming an important asset for smaller food businesses, particularly those that sell at farmers markets. Visit https://localfoodeconomics.com/shared-kitchens/ for the full report and six themed briefs.
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The National Agricultural Marketing Summit provides a unique networking opportunity for agricultural marketing practitioners to form partnerships and learn business strategies that can improve the performance of their farms and businesses.
 This year’s AgSummit, hosted in Florida, will feature resources to assist market managers, food businesses, and technical assistance providers in understanding and enhancing market strategies. The Schedule At A Glance includes a variety of presentations from equitable and inclusive food markets, to managing market risk.
Learn more about participating, as it is quickly approaching next month! For further information on conference details, hotel reservations, and more, visit the Ag Summit website. If in-person participation is not a possibility at this time, check out the Local and Regional Food Systems Response to COVID-19 Webinars page where they will be streaming a live broadcast in October.
To better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the future of food systems, Colorado State University conducted a national survey of more than 5,000 households in 2020 and a follow up survey in fall 2021.
 The Consumer Food Insights Series recently added five new briefs that are now listed on localfoodeconomics.com. Use the links below to explore each area of research:
- 2.0 Survey Overview
- An Overview of Online Shopping Trends
- Changes in Expenditures at Local Food Market Channels in Different Sized Communities
- Exploring Awareness and Promotional Linkages to New Market Channels
- Food Acquisition by School Meal Program Participants during the COVID-19 Pandemic
For more on these trends, visit the
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently published a new guide to help historically underserved farmers and ranchers navigate USDA programs. The guide, Get Started: A Guide to USDA Resources for Historically Underserved Farmers and Ranchers, is available online as a digital download.
 This Get Started guide serves as a one-stop shop for minority, women, veteran, beginning, and limited-resource producers, and it’s another way that we’re working to advance equity and improve access to our programs. It covers everything from planning a service center visit and obtaining a farm number to navigating eligibility for the various technical and financial assistance programs offered across USDA’s Farm Service Agency and Risk Management Agency.
This guide is a great jumping off point for any stakeholders or producers seeking more information about farm loans, the conservation planning process, risk management, and the specifics of our various programs. Additionally, the guide can be downloaded from farmers.gov, including versions in Spanish, Hmong, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese. Other languages are available upon request.
Each month, we’re highlighting the work of Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion grant recipients.
 Star of the Sea Foundation
The Star of the Sea Foundation (SOS) is a non-profit hunger-relief organization working to improve the lives of low-income families in Monroe County, Florida. Most of these residents live in the Florida Keys, a remote population with high food transportation costs and minimal local food vendors or pre-made meal options. The SOS Foundation, with their already established food pantry, community kitchen, and educational programming, wanted to step in and fill this void. They applied for the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) grant in 2017 to further develop the community kitchen infrastructure and refrigeration. This would allow them to increase capacity and provide fresh food to more children, seniors, and underserved community members than ever before.
During the grant period, SOS Foundation drastically grew their sales and went from serving 170 children and 60 seniors per day to 500 children and 280 seniors per day. Their partnership with Monroe County Social Services allowed for seniors to receive meals through federal programs like the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). With this growth, the SOS Foundation hopes to continue their small and medium farm purchasing partnerships in South and Central Florida that have supported their efforts and increased the consumption and demand of locally grown products in the Florida Keys.
 Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
As a ministry of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas helps resettle refuges, empowering them to become financially and culturally self-sufficient, and strengthening their community’s food security. Catholic Charities partnered with the non-profit Cultivate Kansas City to expand to a 9-acre site that became home to the New Roots of Refugees Program, turning their gardening efforts into a business enterprise. They applied for a Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) grant in 2018 to expand the impact of New Roots, add a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, and improve farmer sustainability.
During the grant period, their customer base tripled, and annual sales for the CSA increased from around $27,000 to $223,000. Mama Tu’s Family Farms (pictured above) was the first in their program to surpass $40,000 in wholesale and market sales. Such success has grown her daughters’ interests in expanding and managing the farm, creating sustainability for small operations like these into the future. Catholic Charities aims to keep increasing New Roots’ customer base and farmer income with plans to create an online sales platform and a higher diversity of products in the next few years.
Funding for a variety of eligible entities
NIFA's Urban, Indoor, and Emerging Agriculture Grant
Application Due Date: September 22, 2022
The USDA NIFA’s Urban, Indoor, and Emerging Agriculture (UIE) program supports research, education, and extension work by awarding grants to solve key problems of local, regional, and national importance that facilitate development of urban, indoor, and emerging agricultural systems. The program includes food value chain stages: production, harvesting, transportation, aggregation, packaging, distribution, and markets. Learn more and apply here.
NRCS’s Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative Cooperative Agreements
Application Due Date: September 22, 2022
The USDA NRCS is investing up to $12 million in partnerships that expand access to conservation technical assistance for livestock producers and increase the use of conservation practices on grazing lands. These partnerships are encouraged to include outreach and support for reaching historically underserved producers. More information can be found on the NRCS website.
NIFA’s Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program
Application Due Date: Friday, October 7, 2022
The Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP) seeks to improve food and nutrition security in low-income communities through a food systems approach and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework. The CFPCGP includes two types of projects: Community Food Projects (CFP) and Planning Projects (PP). These projects are designed to increase food security in communities by bringing sectors within the whole food system together to assess strengths, establish linkages, and create sustainable food systems that improve the self-reliance of community members over their food needs. Materials are available on the internet at Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP).
NIFA’s From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals
Application Due Date: October 25, 2022
The primary goal of the From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program (NEXTGEN) is to enable 1890 institutions, 1994 institutions, Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions (specifically, the certified Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (HSACUs)), and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories to build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce including the future USDA workforce primarily through providing student scholarship support, meaningful paid internships, fellowships, and job opportunity matching, and also facilitating opportunities to learn the processes and pathways leading to training and employment in the federal sector.
FSA’s Organic Certification Cost Share & Organic and Transitional Education and Certification Program
Application Due Date: October 31, 2022
Agricultural producers and handlers who are certified organic, along with producers and handlers who are transitioning to organic production, can now apply for the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Organic and Transitional Education and Certification Program (OTECP) and Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which help producers and handlers cover the cost of organic certification, along with other related expenses.
RD's Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program
Application Due Date: Applications accepted until funds are exhausted The USDA RD Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program is authorized by the American Rescue Plan. This program guarantees loans of up to $40 million for qualified lenders to finance food systems projects, specifically for the start-up or expansion of activities in the middle of the food supply chain. The program will support new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution.
FSA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program
Application Due Date: October 28, 2022
USDA is making up to $300,000,000 available for the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program through this funding opportunity. USDA is committed to funding projects that support a diverse set of farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, and operators (producers) on the edge of viability, moving them from surviving to thriving as they address core barriers to attain land, capital, and market access. USDA will achieve this goal by funding cooperative agreements or grants to organizations that will develop and run programs that are designed to align with and respond to land, capital, and market access needs of the target audience while concurrently providing wraparound technical assistance to ensure that program participants have the information, training, and customized support they require.
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