USDA’s Local and Regional Foods Division Webinar Series Continues
On Thursday, Dec. 19 at 1 p.m. ET, the Local and Regional Foods Division will hold the third webinar in the Local and Regional Foods Resources & Research Webinar Series (the R&R Webinars), a monthly series highlighting local and regional foods research projects, resources, partnerships and programs.
The Visualizing Food Systems Data webinar will feature the latest findings from the national Consumer Food Insights survey highlighting consumers' post-COVID-19 food spending habits. Sharing findings from this third nationwide survey, experts will discuss the drivers of local and regional consumer purchases in 2023, changes in expenditures at online and local food market channels, and food security in the post-pandemic food environment. The webinar will also highlight key takeaways for food businesses, opportunities, and strategies drawn from the survey findings. The Consumer Food Insights survey is part of the Local and Regional Food Systems Response to Covid project, a cooperative agreement between USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Colorado State University, and the University of Kentucky.
Upcoming Webinars:
Past Webinars:
- Oct.17, 2024 - The first webinar in this series provided an update on the Regional Food Business Center Program, highlighted the program’s first-year impacts, and outlined ways for stakeholders to engage with their local centers.
- Nov. 21, 2024 – The second webinar built on frameworks from USDA’s Local and Regional Food Systems Resilience Playbook to explore strategies for supporting recovery and resilience of local and regional food systems in the face of natural and man-made disruptions.
$119 Million in Business Builder Grants Available
USDA announced it has invested a total of $119 million in Business Builder grants to support small and mid-sized farm and food businesses by funding projects that increase business viability, develop regional market opportunities, and expand value chain capacity. The Business Builder grants are being offered through USDA’s 12 Regional Food Business Centers (RFBC) and is a part of their work to support a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system by providing localized assistance to access local and regional supply chains, including linking producers to wholesalers and distributors.
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AMS Architects Featured on America ByDesign Architecture!
The AMS Wholesale Markets and Facility Design team is being featured on an upcoming episode of America ByDesign! The team provides technical assistance and support to stakeholders regarding the construction of new structures or the remodeling of existing ones. These facilities include wholesale markets, farmers markets, public markets, incubator kitchens, and food hubs, all of which are important parts of the national food distribution network. Their work with the Port Orford Seafood Hub will be featured in Episode 5.
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New Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops Initiative
In November, USDA announced the creation of programs that will help farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, and nuts overcome market barriers for their products, and help producers access necessary pre-market storage for their crops following severe weather events. The Marketing Assistance Program for Specialty Crops will expand markets by helping specialty crop producers who typically have higher marketing costs. Applications are being accepted now through Jan. 8, 2025.
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Two current research projects funded by AMS are looking for survey responses! We encourage you to share these opportunities with your producer and/or technical assistance networks.
Virginia Tech and Illinois Tech launch Black, Hispanic, and Tribal Producer Wholesale Marketing and Technical Assistance Survey
If you are a farmer or rancher who identifies as Black, Hispanic, or Tribal, selling wholesale now or in the past, or plan to access wholesale markets, we would like to invite you to take this online survey. This project aims to understand the distinct technical assistance needs of Black, Hispanic, and Tribal producers when accessing and scaling into wholesale markets. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.
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If you are an individual, organization, or institution providing technical assistance to Black, Hispanic and Tribal producers, and are willing to participate in an interview, please reach out to the project team.
The project is being conducted jointly by a team of researchers from Virginia Tech and the Illinois Institute of Technology. If you have any questions or complaints about this study, you can contact Pratyoosh Kashyap at pratyoosh@vt.edu or Weslynne Ashton at washton@iit.edu.
Agritourism Pre-Survey
 Be counted! If your farm, ranch, or agricultural business is open to visitors, please take five minutes to complete a short pre-survey from our colleagues at the University of Vermont.
The goal of this survey is to understand how many agricultural operations in the U.S. welcome visitors for direct sales and experiences, including pick-your-own, farm stands, tours, overnight farm stays, recreation, etc. This information will be used to inform future programs and support, as well as to inform the development of a more comprehensive survey to be released in 2025.
If you have questions about the survey, please contact Lisa.Chase@uvm.edu or 802-656-7532. If you have questions about your rights as a participant in a research project, please contact the Research Protections Office at the University of Vermont at 802-656-5040.
Each month, we highlight the work of Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion grant recipients.
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Twin Sisters Mobile Market (TSM) is a nonprofit, farmer-led, producer-only mobile farmers market in Everson, Wash. The market provides essential food access in East Whatcom County, where roughly a third of the area’s 9,000 residents live with limited access to healthy foods. TSM began on a shoestring budget and successfully grew to employ two-part time staff along with seasonal market positions. To scale up the business and be sustainable in the long-term, the market needed to invest in organizational capacity and marketing to increase customers and sales. In 2020, Twin Sisters Mobile Market received a Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) Grant for $99,820 to build their needed capacity. Since then, TSM implemented a communications and marketing plan allowing the organization to stabilize and improve operations including product sourcing, selling value-added goods, and recruiting a more diverse group of farmer members.
Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program (FSCSC): USDA’s Farm Service Agency FSCSC program provides financial assistance for specialty crop operations that incur eligible on-farm food safety program expenses related to obtaining or renewing a food safety certification. FSA is accepting applications for calendar year 2024 through Jan. 31, 2025. The application period for calendar year 2025 will be Jan. 1, 2025 – Jan. 31, 2026.
Be sure to visit the applicant resources page for more helpful resources, including links to webinars that provide specific assistance on applying for a Farm to School Grant. The application period for FY2025 is open until Jan. 10, 2025.
Additional Funding Information
There are two main websites to support organizations seeking federal funding: USAspending.gov and Grants.gov.
USAspending.gov is the official open data source of federal spending information, including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans. It can be used as a retrospective search tool.
Grants.gov is a prospective search tool for federal funding where users can search and apply for current grant opportunities.
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