The Kansas Department of Agriculture has been awarded a $6.46 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program.

The purpose of the RFSI program is to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems by creating new revenue streams for Kansas producers. Funds will support expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products excluding meat and poultry. This program is intended to provide similar support to other programs which provided USDA funding for meat and poultry processing, but this program is focused on sectors other than meat and poultry.

KDA will work in partnership with USDA to make competitive sub-award infrastructure grants to Kansas food and farm businesses and other eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, local government entities, tribal governments, and institutions such as schools and hospitals.

KDA is soliciting feedback from interested parties to identify funding priorities. Two listening sessions will be held on July 6, 2023, to gather input. There is also an online public comment form available.  For more information, visit agriculture.ks.gov/RFSI or contact Brittney Grother, KDA grants coordinator, at Brittney.Grother@ks.gov or 785-564-6797.

The vision of the Kansas Department of Agriculture is to provide an ideal environment for long term, sustainable agricultural prosperity and statewide economic growth. The agency will achieve this by advocating for sectors at all levels and providing industry outreach.