USDA and the Heartland Regional Food Business Center Make Available Over $3.7 Million to Farm and Food Businesses in First Round of Business Builder Grants

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2024 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Heartland Regional Food Business Center (RFBC) today announced the availability of over $3.7 million in Business Builder Grants to support small, mid-sized, and diverse food and farm entrepreneurs. These grants will promote business expansion, job creation, business capacity building, and increase local products in the local market. The funding is available for projects in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and northwest Arkansas.

In May 2023, USDA awarded $360 million to finalists to establish 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers and a National Intertribal Food Business Center to provide essential local and regional food systems coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building. These Centers assist small and mid-sized producers and food and farm businesses with the goal of creating a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system. The Heartland Regional Food Business Center, led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and rural Missouri community development corporation New Growth, focuses on expanding the local and regional food system in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and northwest Arkansas. It conducts this work as a regional team with 14 Key Partners and 20 Collaborators across the five states.

Local and regional food systems are essential to the overall food supply chain and the new Regional Food Business Centers are the cornerstone of our efforts to support them. The Centers provide technical assistance to create new value chain connections, expanding supply to and demand from new and existing markets, improving viability and increasing market value of products, aiding with business and succession planning, and fostering connections at both state and national levels. Projects funded through the Heartland Center’s Business Builder program will further the Center’s vision of making the region a place where locally produced food will be a major contributor to a resilient and safe food supply through regional networks that make local food an easy, everyday choice, supporting healthy people, community economies, and sustainable ecosystems.

“The Regional Food Business Centers are a cornerstone of USDA’s food system transformation efforts, serving to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access the resources and technical assistance they need to access new markets,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Center’s Business Builder Grant program will empower the region’s small and mid-sized farmers and food businesses to launch and expand their operations by establishing new revenue streams and gaining investors. This program is crucial to achieving the vision the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA has of a food system that fosters opportunities for regional food businesses and rural economies.”

“The Business Builder grant opportunity will inject much needed capital for building and strengthening local food systems in the Heartland,” said Katie Nixon, Heartland Center Co-Director and leader of the Food Systems Program at New Growth. “We are excited and ready to provide technical assistance to applicants on their ideas and applications. We are here to support our food and farm businesses in their efforts to feed their communities.”

The USDA HeartlandRegional Food Business Center has received a total of $11.15 million for their Business Builder program. The Center’s Business Builder program will accept proposals semi-annually for competitive subawards of $5,000 to $50,000 each. The Heartland Center will prioritize:

• Small farms and small businesses in urban and rural areas that operate along the local and regional food value chain
• Food and farm entrepreneurs who are indigenous, immigrant, people of color, veterans, and otherwise disadvantaged, such as those with physical disabilities.
• Food and farm entrepreneurs who are eager and ready to build their enterprises, from startup through growth.
• Food and farm entrepreneurs who are unsure of eligibility and where to go for assistance and unfamiliar with resources.

The Heartland Center is accepting applications for its first-round funding through October 15, 2024. The Center will host an informational webinar on how to apply for Business Builder grants on Aug. 28, 2024, from 12 to 1 p.m. CT. For additional information, visit the Heartland Center’s website.

AMS administers programs that create domestic and international marketing opportunities for U.S. producers of food, fiber, and specialty crops. AMS also provides the agriculture industry with valuable services to ensure the quality and availability of wholesome food for consumers across the country and globally. AMS services and its significant grant investments create opportunities by supporting American farmers, ranchers and businesses across the supply chain, and drive economic development in small towns and rural communities.

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USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

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