Small Farms - Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI)

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) is proud to introduce the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI), an initiative designed to enhance the robustness and sustainability of North Carolina's food supply chain. Funded in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the RFSI program aims to empower North Carolina's agricultural producers by strengthening the middle segments of the food supply chain.

The RFSI program seeks to build resilience within local and regional food systems, fostering economic growth and creating new opportunities for North Carolina's farmers and food producers.  By providing targeted support for infrastructure improvements and equipment upgrades, the RFSI program will enhance processing, aggregation, distribution, and storage capabilities across the state in the form of grants for projects that meet these goals.

The implementation timeline for this program for the Fiscal Funding Year of 2024 is:

  • Infrastructure and Equipment Only Application Opening:  May 1, 2024 

  • Infrastructure and Equipment Only Application Closes:  June 15, 2024

  • State Award Range for Infrastructure Grants -  $100,000- $2,000,000:  Fall, 2024 

  • State Award Range for Equipment Only Grants -  $10,000-$100,000: Fall, 2024

  • Grant applications are available below. All applicants must request a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov to accompany the application.  It is highly recommended to complete the UEI application in advance of completing the application form.  After reading through the RFA, send questions and/or completed applications to RFSIGrantProgram@ncagr.gov.  Our staff may also be reached at (919) 707-3380.

Tab/Accordion Items

  • 5/1 @ 6:00 PM - Johnston County Cooperative Extension Office, 2736 NC-210 STE. A, Smithfield, NC 27577
  • 5/8 @ 6:00 PM - Bertie County Cooperative Extension Office, 104 Lancaster Ave, Windsor, NC 27983
  • 5/13 @ 6:00 PM - Robeson County Cooperative Extension Office, 455 Caton Rd, Lumberton, NC 28360
  • 5/14 @ 2:00 PM  - NC Rural Economic Development Center, 4021 Carya Dr, Raleigh, NC  27610
    • To be held as part of the Tri-COG Feeds Regional Convening Meeting (10-3:30).  For more information or Register Online
  • 5/16 @ 12:00 PM - Virtual Meeting hosted by Resourceful Communities - Register Online
  • 5/21 @ 6:00 PM  - Forsyth County Cooperative Extension Office, 1450 Fairchild Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27105 - Register Online
  • TBD - Henderson County Cooperative Extension Office, 100 Jackson Park Road, Hendersonville, NC
  • TBD - Lee County Cooperative Extension Office, 2420 Tramway Rd, Sanford, NC 27330
  • TBD - Nash County Cooperative Extension Office, 1006 Eastern Ave, Nashville, NC 27856
     

RFSI Equipment Only Grant Application PDF** MS-Word
RFSI Infrastructure Grant Application PDF** MS-Word
RFSI Verification of Matching Funds   MS-Word
RFSI NEPA Questionnaire PDF**  

**Note - Right click PDF and choose "Save Link As" to download and open saved file

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This page was last modified on 05/13/2024