One week left to comment! There’s money out there for agriculture.
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The Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) is seeking public comments through Aug. 11, 2023, on funding priorities being developed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI).
Hawai‘i has been earmarked for $3.2 million in block grant funding; however, the program requires Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture to conduct outreach to stakeholders to determine the priorities for the state application.
The purpose of the program is to develop and administer state-coordinated initiatives to build the resilience of the state’s food supply chain for food crops. In partnership with the USDA, the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture will administer competitive solicitation to award grants to support infrastructure in the middle of the supply chain for local food and farm businesses and other eligible entities.
Funds will support expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.
Examples of eligible project objectives include:
• Modernizing processing and manufacturing equipment
• Supporting the construction of a new facility
• Modernizing or expanding an existing facility
• Improving operations through training opportunities
• Modernizing manufacturing, tracking, storage, and information technology systems
• Improving the capacity to comply with federal, state, and local food safety requirements
• Enhancing worker safety through the adoption of new technologies or investment in equipment or facility improvements
For a full description of program objectives and eligible projects, visit the USDA RFSI program factsheet at:
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/RFSIFactSheet.pdf
At this phase in the process, Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture is collecting public comments about needs in the local agricultural and food sector to define funding priorities for the forthcoming grant program.
All interested parties may submit comments to hdoa.rfsi
@hawaii.gov beginning July 26, 2023, through August 11, 2023, until 4:30 p.m. HST. The input received will be reviewed and utilized to determine Hawai‘i’s priorities and will be submitted to the USDA.
Program contact:
Phone – (808) 973-9595
email: hdoa.rfsi
@hawaii.gov