The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) is seeking applications for grants to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program designed to help strengthen the state’s food supply chain. NDA will work in partnership with the USDA to award $2.5 million for equipment and infrastructure projects to Nebraska food and farm businesses and other eligible entities including nonprofits, local government entities, tribal governments, schools, and hospitals.
“It takes a lot of steps and processes to get a producer’s food from the farm to your table,” said NDA Director Sherry Vinton. “We’re looking for ways to strengthen and streamline those processes to create a stronger, more resilient food supply chain. These RFSI grants are another resource to help us improve upon our current system.”
The competitive grant funding process opened Dec. 1, 2023. RFSI funds will support expanded capacity for food crops for activities that happen post-harvest and prior to the arrival at a retail market. Activities like gathering, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distributing locally and regionally produced food, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for eating, aquaculture, and other food products. These funds exclude meat and poultry products because those products are funded through other USDA programs.
For more information, visit: https://nda.nebraska.gov/promotion/rfsi/index.html, or contact Program Specialist Holle Evert: holle.evert@nebraska.gov, 402-310-8354.