USDA RFSI Program Listening Session with MDAR

USDA has announced the Resilient Food System Infrastructure (RFSI) grant program, a program created to work with states and tribal governments across the US with the goal of developing and administering coordinated initiatives to build resilience across the middle-of-the-food-supply-chain within the states. MDAR will work in partnership with USDA to make competitive subawards to support infrastructure in the middle-of-the-supply-chain for domestic food and farm businesses and other eligible entities.

MDAR is currently seeking input from agricultural stakeholders to determine funding priority areas for the RFSI grant program in Massachusetts. MDAR will be holding a Listening Session to gather stakeholder feedback. This Listening Session will be held on Monday July 24^th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Here is the link to register for the Listening Session.

Additionally, MDAR is soliciting feedback for RFSI funding priorities through an online survey, which can be found here.

For more information, please visit MDAR’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) webpage. MDAR is currently in the planning process for this grant program. MDAR expects to release a Request for Response (RFR) for competitive Infrastructure Grant proposals in Fall 2023. More information will be provided including project requirements, allowable and unallowable costs, evaluation criteria, and project submission when the RFR is released. If you have any questions about the RFSI program, please contact Keri.Cornman@mass.gov.