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Opportunity Alert! Local and Regional Food Marketing Funding Available

MIVoicesBlog-FMLFPP

From the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: Local and Regional Food Marketing Funding Available

According to NSAC:

On Thursday, May 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) posted a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP), a competitive grants program which provides a total of $30 million for a wide spectrum of direct-to-consumer and intermediated marketing projects to help grow economic opportunities and income for small and mid-sized family farmers, increase consumer choice and access to fresh and healthy food, and improve the economy in rural communities.

The much-anticipated release of this newly expanded program represents the skyrocketing consumer demand for locally-grown food and a growing support for regional food systems.

NSAC States that basic goal of th eFMLFPP is “…to develop new marketing opportunities for farmers and ranchers.”

The 2014 Farm Bill divides the funding for FMLFPP in halves.  That means that there were two RFAs released yesterday: $15 million for direct-to-consumer outlets (like farmers markets, CSAs, etc.) and another $15 million for local and regional food enterprises that are not direct-to-consumer outlets (like food hubs, food processors, other value-added production enterprises, etc.).

AMS has posted the two RFAs on their website, one for direct-to-consumer marketing projects and one for non-direct-to-consumer marketing projects.

Applications for both the “FMPP” and the “LFPP” portions of the program are due on June 20, 2014 via thewww.grants.gov website.

NSAC provided a short list of the eligible grant recipients.

For both direct marketing and local food projects, eligible entities are:

  • agricultural businesses;
  • agricultural cooperatives;
  • producer networks;
  • producer associations;
  • community supported agriculture (CSA) networks;
  • CSA associations;
  • local governments;
  • nonprofit corporations;
  • public benefit corporations;
  • economic development corporations;
  • regional farmers market authorities; and
  • tribal governments.

For more information on the newly expanded FMLFPP program, see NSAC’s post with related links: Local and Regional Food Marketing Funding Available