The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) has been awarded $3,043,040 through the USDA AMS Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program. The purpose of the RFSI program is to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to improve markets for small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products for consumers, and develop new job opportunities.
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“We are excited to continue to improve Utah’s food supply chain through this new RFSI grant program,” said Caroline Hargraves, Director of Marketing and Economic Development for UDAF. “This is a great opportunity to serve small-to-mid sized producers and food businesses and address the significant processing and distribution gaps in our local food supply chain.”
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Through this program UDAF will be issuing competitive sub-award grants to support the development of the middle-of-the-supply-chain for Utah-based food and farm businesses. Grant projects may include activities that support the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products. Eligible food products include dairy, grains for human consumption, fruits and vegetables, aquaculture, and other food products (excluding meat and poultry products and animal feed products). The grant application window is anticipated to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
UDAF is seeking public input via a brief online survey to help determine priorities for this program. The survey will be open through August 18, 2023.
To complete this survey and sign up for updates about this program, please visit https://tinyurl.com/RFSI-