Together, USDA AMS and USDA Rural Development (RD) have partnered with other USDA Agencies and offices to offer the USDA Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide (LRFS Resource Guide), a tool to help navigate USDA resources and services in support of local and regional food systems. You can use the LRFS Resource Guide to identify financial resources that can be “stacked” or sequenced to support an individual project, business, or broader community plan.
Unlike previous guides, the LRFS Resource Guide highlights permanent funding, alongside one-time programming funded as part of the USDA Food Systems Transformation initiative—USDA’s more than $4 billion commitment to developing a fair, competitive, distributed, and resilient food system. The intent is to increase USDA staff and stakeholders’ awareness of and access to permanently available programs supporting local and regional food systems and one-time programing, helping communities actively develop and fulfill their plans and visions for their local and regional food systems. Time-limited programs will be noted as such in the Type of Assistance/Typical Award column of the tables contained on pages 13-36 in the guide.
In some cases, the LRFS Resource Guide includes one-time programs already awarded to acknowledge investments that are in the process of being made throughout the country, promote connections and linkages, and support communities in leveraging and building off existing projects.
The full report is available at: USDA Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide (pdf).