The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Appalachia Regional Food Business Center are announcing the availability of $3.32 million in Business Builder subawards to support food and farm business development, market access and processing, aggregation and distribution infrastructure. This is the first of five cycles of competitive awards that ARFBC will execute to serve the states of Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and several counties in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland.

In May 2023, USDA awarded $360 million to finalists to establish 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers, including a National Intertribal Food Business Center. These centers assist small and mid-sized producers and food and farm businesses with the goal of creating a more resilient, diverse and competitive food system. The Appalachia Regional Food Business Center, led by Rural Action Inc. and fiscal manager, Mountain Association, works to strengthen infrastructure for aggregation, distribution and processing, build capacity to enhance financial stability for farm and food businesses and increase connectivity between rural and urban communities by strengthening existing markets and expanding new ones.

Local and regional food systems are essential to the overall food supply chain, and the new Regional Food Business Centers are the cornerstone of USDA's efforts to support them. The centers provide technical assistance to create new value chain connections, expanding supply to and demand from new and existing markets, improving viability and increasing market value of products, aiding with business and succession planning and fostering connections at both state and national levels. The Appalachia Regional Food Business Center Business Builder program provides strategic investment to build, innovate and coordinate a fair Appalachian food system that cultivates health and wealth across the region.

“The Regional Food Business Centers are a cornerstone of USDA’s food system transformation efforts, serving to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access the resources and technical assistance they need to access new markets,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Center’s Business Builder Subaward program will empower the region’s small and mid-sized farmers and food businesses to launch and expand their operations by establishing new revenue streams and gaining investors. This program is crucial to achieving the vision the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA has of a food system that fosters opportunities for regional food businesses and rural economies.”

"This funding creates a unique opportunity to not only support the mid-tier of the food system, helping farmers, food processors, distributors and alternative forms of retail, but also to transform the food supply chain and help local communities, both rural and urban,” said Paul Freedman, director of the Appalachia Regional Food Business Center. “It is hoped that while the subawards are focused on the food sector of the economy, the impacts will be broader. With reduced food insecurity, improved health and nutrition, increased employment opportunities, and new economic investment, to name just a few of the intended outcomes, all of Appalachia and areas beyond will continue to grow and thrive."

The USDA Appalachia Regional Food Business Center received a total of $16.6 million for their Business Builder program. This program will distribute subawards over five funding cycles from 2024 to 2027 through two different award types, each designed to address distinct needs of the region’s food systems at different points of development and expansion. 

The first award type, Planning & Development awards, are intended to provide support to growing food and farm enterprises so they can work to enhance the regional food economy. The second award type, Implementation & Expansion awards, are intended for projects focused on regional needs and the center’s strategic priorities. Both award types are submitted on the same RFA schedule and undergo parallel processes of competitive review, selection and announcement. The ARFBC will prioritize:

• Food and farm business development to meet consumer demand, enhance financial stability and increase regional food supply.
• Market access to strengthen existing markets, expand new markets, increase food access for underserved populations and connect value chains.
• Processing, aggregation and distribution infrastructure to connect or strengthen existing infrastructure, make infrastructure more accessible to underserved populations, create new infrastructure and enhance food safety.

The Appalachia Regional Food Business Center is accepting applications for its first round of funding through Nov. 1, 2024.

Source: USDA's AMS