Nevada Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) to administer the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) cooperative agreement. The overall goal of RFSI is to create better processing options for local and regional producers across specialty crops, dairy, grain (for food), and other sectors by targeting gaps and opportunities in the pandemic assistance, Food Systems Transformation programs, and existing USDA grant programs that support the agricultural supply chain. Nevada has received $2,214,973 for this program from USDA AMS. This amount is to be split to support the state through grant funding and technical support to help build resilience in the middle of the supply chain. This program aims to provide better markets to small farms and food businesses, support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, and fair wages; and create new and safe job opportunities. The NDA, in cooperation with USDA, will conduct a competitive solicitation to award approximately $1,200,000 in RFSI funds to projects that maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. Projects should support infrastructure in the middle-of-the-supply-chain for Nevada food and farm businesses and other eligible entities. The food supply chain involves the following stages: 1. Production 2. Processing 3. Aggregation and Distribution 4. Markets and Consumers Middle-of-the-supply-chain refers to stages 2) Processing and 3) Aggregation and Distribution. This program supports food system crops and products meant for human consumption, excluding meat and poultry products. There are two types of awards being offered with this funding, Infrastructure Grants and Simplified Equipment-Only Grants. Applicants are only eligible to receive one grant.