The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) is announcing $3,340,273 in grant awards for 11 projects through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI). The awards include five Infrastructure Grants and six Equipment Grants aimed at boosting resilience in the state’s food supply chain. Middle-of-the-supply-chain activities include processing, aggregation, and/or distribution of targeted agricultural products.

Through the RFSI program and in addition to the Infrastructure Grant funding, WVDA will support supply chain coordination and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses operating in processing, aggregation and distribution—all critical activities to support access to more and better markets for farmers.

“Strengthening West Virginia’s food supply chain is critical not only for our farmers and food businesses, but for every community that depends on fresh, local products,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt. “These investments will build lasting infrastructure, create new market opportunities, and ensure our food systems are more resilient and responsive in the face of future challenges.”

RFSI provides up to $420 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to the agency, commission, or department responsible for agriculture within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Through this program, AMS has entered into cooperative agreements with state agencies, commissions, or departments responsible for agriculture, commercial food processing, seafood, or food system and distribution activities or commerce activities in states or U.S. territories..

For more information, visit the AMS Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure webpage https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/rfsi/rfsi-rfa-status.

The status of each state and territory’s RFSI program is available on USDA’s StateGrant webpage https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/rfsi/rfsi-rfa-status.