State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball recently announced that the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets is eligible to receive nearly $20 million through a new United States Department of Agriculture and Markets (USDA) grant opportunity. Funds through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) will be used to provide grants for infrastructure projects that expand capacity, create new markets for the state’s producers and food processors, and strengthen the New York food system.
Commissioner Ball said, “The Department is looking forward to applying to the USDA to access nearly $20 million through the agency’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. With this funding, we would have an opportunity to make a real impact on the resilience of our food system, focusing on the middle-of-the-supply-chain specifically, to modernize and support construction of agricultural facilities, improve training, support the purchase of new equipment, and so much more. We look forward to a robust response from the agricultural community and invite everyone to provide input as we develop our application for this grant program.”
Funding from this program would support projects that expand capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of targeted local and regional agricultural products.
As the Department develops this program for approval by USDA, it is conducting outreach to food system stakeholders through an open comment period and a series of webinars. The information gathered will help the Department to better access the priorities and needs for these types of grants in New York. The public comment period is open from July 13 through July 28. Industry producers and stakeholders can provide feedback through a comment form at https://forms.office.com/g/nN62bHWCy7 or register to join a stakeholder discussion group.
Webinars for interested parties to learn more about this grant opportunity and to provide feedback are scheduled as follows:
•Agricultural producer group organizations and agricultural cooperatives: Monday, July 24, 3 to 4:30 p.m. (https://meetny.webex.com/weblink/register/r437db911d5d25027129877f80a935af3)
•Processor/distributor stakeholder webinar: Tuesday, July 25, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (https://meetny.webex.com/weblink/register/ra1024c470b51a29d52dc7885c0edda25)
•Technical Service providers/organizations serving historically underserved producers: Tuesday, July 25, 2 to 3:30 p.m. (https://meetny.webex.com/weblink/register/r35ce3eb33951cbd37d6f85db87f23850)
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