Louisiana Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure

The goals of the RFSI program are to build resilience in the middle-of-the-food-supply-chain, provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, and support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, fair wages, and new and safe job opportunities. RFSI will serve as an important component of USDA’s framework to transform the food system to benefit consumers, producers, and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers. RFSI funds exclude meat, wild-caught seafood, and poultry products (excluding eggs) as those products are funded through other USDA programs. Through the cooperative agreement, the LDAF will coordinate initiatives to build resilience across the middle-of-the-food-supply-chain in Louisiana. Funds will support expanded capacity for aggregating, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distributing locally and regionally produced food products. Stakeholders may include, but are not limited to, small and underserved business owners, historically underserved farmers or ranchers, and other businesses that qualify under the Small Business Administration (SBA) categories of small, disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, and veteran-owned small businesses.