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Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program

Program Overview

The purpose of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, fair wages, and new and safe job opportunities.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) will conduct a competitive solicitation to award funds to projects that maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. CDFA, in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), will make competitive Infrastructure Grant awards to support infrastructure in the middle-of-the-supply-chain for domestic food and farm businesses and other eligible entities. Middle-of-the-supply-chain activities include processing, aggregation, and/or distribution of targeted agricultural products. This program is to support food system crops and products meant for human consumption (excluding meat and poultry products, which are funded through other USDA programs).

For more information on the funding source, please visit the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service program webpage.

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RFSI Draft Program Priorities

The public comment period on program priorities being developed for the RFSI Program is now closed. The input received will be reviewed and utilized to inform the state plan priorities that are submitted to USDA. The public comment period was held from July 14, 2023 through August 3, 2023 at 5 p.m. PT.

RFSI Draft Program Priorities

RFSI Public Comment Summary – Draft Program Priorities

Webinar recordings

• RFSI Overview and Proposed Priorities

Eligible Entities

Entities eligible for Infrastructure Grants are listed below.

• Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors.
• Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities.
• Local government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities.
• Tribal governments operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities.
• Institutions such as schools, universities, or hospitals bringing producers together to establish cooperative or shared infrastructure or invest in equipment that will benefit multiple producers middle-of-the-supply-chain activities.

Match Requirement for Infrastructure Grants

Infrastructure Grant recipients are required to contribute 50% of the total proposed project cost as a match to federal funding. This applies to all applicants except those who qualify for the reduced match described below.

For historically underserved farmers and ranchers, or for other businesses that qualify under Small Business Administration (SBA) categories of small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business, or veteran-owned small business, the required match funding contribution or cost share is reduced to 25% of the project cost.