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Transportation and Marketing

 Regional Food System Partnerships Program 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Description of Funded Projects

with a Farm to Institution Component

Farm to Institution broadly refers to connecting local or regional producers, including farmers and ranchers, 

processors, and intermediaries selling local and regional foods to establishments where people routinely 

eat meals outside of home, such as schools and early childcare centers, colleges and universities, hospitals, 

corporate cafeterias, and government agencies and to vendors that sell to these establishments.

This document identifies FY20 funded projects that included Farm to Institution components in their project 

descriptions. This document may not be inclusive of all FY20 awarded projects that carried out Farm to 

Institution activities as part of their project. Click on a state abbreviation in the chart below to jump to Farm to 

Institution projects in the respective state.

State Recipient Project Name Project Type

CO First Nations Development 

Institute

Building Sioux Community Food Systems Implementation 

& Expansion 

Western Colorado Food and 

Agriculture Council

Western Slope Food System Partnership Planning & 

Design

HI Hawaii Public Health Institute Transforming Hawaiʻi Food Systems 

Together

Planning & 

Design

MI Michigan State University Strengthening Public and Private 

Partnerships for a More Resilient and Just 

Food System in Rural & Urban 

Communities Across Michigan

Implementation 

& Expansion

NM New Mexico Farmers' 

Marketing Association

Scaling Up New Mexico’s Value Chain 

Coordination Network

Implementation 

& Expansion

OH Green Umbrella Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy 

Council (GCRFPC) Partnerships for a 

Healthy Regional Food System

Implementation 

& Expansion

VT Tiny Seed Project, Inc., Raising Grain: Reviving the Northeast 

Grainshed

Planning & 

Design

VA Appalachian Sustainable 

Development

Expanding Food and Agriculture Value 

Chains in Central Appalachia by Creating a 

Multi- Stakeholder Cooperative

Implementation 

& Expansion

WA Northwest Agriculture 

Business Center

Puget Sound Regional Food System 

Partnership

Implementation 

& Expansion

For more information, please visit the grant program's website:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/rfsp

NOTE: The below project descriptions were provided by the grant recipients.
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Colorado

Recipient: First Nations Development Institute, Longmont, CO

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion (Project region is on North/South Dakota border)

Award Amount: $301,544

Match Amount: $77,068

Total Project Amount: $378,612

Building Sioux Community Food Systems 

First Nations Development Institute, a national, Native American nonprofit organization, will work with

Spirit Lake Nation and Standing Rock Tribe, federally recognized Indian tribes in North/South Dakota.

Collectively, these entities will collaborate to build the organizational and programmatic capacity of

Spirit Lake and Standing Rock, enhancing their abilities to reclaim control of their local food systems

through building partnerships and community relationships.

Spirit Lake and Standing Rock will work with Native food producers, individual and institutional food

consumers, and food market outlets to: increase local production of fresh, traditional, and value-added

foods; create and meet the demand for locally-produced affordable, healthy, fresh, and traditional

foods; and capture economic opportunities for social enterprise development and recirculation of food

dollars in the community.

These models will be documented and publicized in a final, nationally disseminated report and

workshop to promote their adaptation in other Native communities interested in food sovereignty.

This project is significant because it serves historically underserved Native communities whose food

systems have been disrupted by colonization yet have significant agricultural assets to leverage.

Recipient: Western Colorado Food and Agriculture Council, Montrose, CO

Project Type: Planning & Design

Award Amount: $108,000

Match Amount: $27,000

Total Project Amount: $135,000

Western Slope Food System Partnership 

Demand for local food has grown throughout the Western Slope and the eastern “Front Range” of

Colorado. However, farmers, food hubs and distributors servicing our region lack the logistics capacity to

aggregate and scale up their operations to sell to institutional and retail outlets. Coordination of

relationships across the regional food supply chain (RFSC) is needed to cultivate mutually beneficial

partnerships that grow sales into these channels.

This project will connect producers, distributors, mid-tier value chain businesses, and buyers to share

accurate, reliable, and timely data. We will build the digital logistics capacity and efficiency of the RFSCto 

coordinate marketing and crop production with demand planning and inventory management, improve 

transportation coordination and per-unit hauling efficiency, and design optimum processing and

warehousing solutions.

The project will create a collaborative regional food system partnership with shared operational values
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and social mission goals. In year one it will establish an agreement to empower small and mid-scale local

food producers to share their production data and engage in omni-channel marketing. In year two the

partnership will use data generated in year one to develop baseline metrics and strategic market, midtier value chain, and infrastructure expansion plans. Success will be measured in stakeholder data

sharing engagement, supply chain operational cost reductions, supply chain efficiency improvements,

growth of market channels to producers, and year two investment commitments.

Hawaii

Recipient: Hawaii Public Health Institute, Honolulu, HI

Project Type: Planning & Design

Award Amount: $249,466

Match Amount: $62,567

Total Project Amount: $312,033

Transforming Hawaiʻi Food Systems Together 

The 'Ike 'Ai Consortium on Sustainable Food Systems (‘Ike ‘Ai) is a cross-sector, multi-institutional

planning, policy, applied research, education, and community engagement initiative designed to

collaboratively advance food security, public health, climate resilience and indigenous values. The name

‘Ike ‘Ai refers to the Hawaiian words for “knowledge” and “food,” respectively. ‘Ike ‘Ai is a nexus for

community, government, educational institutions and private entities who work to integrate sustainable

food production, processing, distribution, access, consumption and waste management.

Through the convening of key regional food system actors, this project will strengthen Hawai‘i’s food

system by developing a State Food Policy Framework and Strategy, informed by data products, to

prioritize policies and actions required to increase access and consumption of locally produced food.

Fundamentally, new investment opportunities and expanded workforce pathways will shape the path to

food system sustainability, resilience and equity.

Spotlighting indigenous food producers, local food distributors, university researchers, educators, state

officials and recent efforts by community leaders to restore disrupted market chains, the unfolding

COVID-19 pandemic has magnified our inability to deliver locally sourced food in times of disaster. As a

driver of economic recovery and resilience building, ‘Ike ‘Ai will be a catalytic vehicle to help restore

Hawai‘i’s vibrant community-based food systems.

Michigan

Recipient: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion

Award Amount: $746,480

Match Amount: $189,560

Total Project Amount: $936,040

Strengthening Public and Private Partnerships for a More Resilient and Just Food System in Rural 
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& Urban Communities Across Michigan 

Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) advances regionally rooted food

systems through applied research, education, and outreach uniting the knowledge and experience of

diverse stakeholders. Partnerships are the core of CRFS’ work. Since 2009, the Michigan Good Food

Charter has been building strong collaboration infrastructure to support local and regional food systems.

A recent partnership with the MSU Product Center spurred innovation to support food and farm

entrepreneurs and link enterprises to statewide resources. Covid-19 has highlighted the essential nature

of resilient, and equitable local food supply chains. In this project, we will build upon our existing

partnerships and past successes, applying key lessons from COVID-19 to improve coordination,

resiliency, and racial equity in targeted local food systems across Michigan.

We have chosen low-resource, rural and urban, communities within SW Michigan and the Upper

Peninsula as our food system partnership laboratories for this project. By leveraging existing

partnerships and an ecosystem of food system business and policy networks, we will expand our

collaborative efforts to connect food and farm enterprises, food hubs, incubator kitchens, and

institutional and retail markets. The partnerships will carry forward the work of 21 public and private

organizations with over 17 years' experience in developing local and regional food systems. Together we

will further integrate local food system expertise to address the needs of low-resource partners,

respond to COVID-19, and support economic growth to build a stronger, more resilient, and just local

economies.

New Mexico

Recipient: New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association, Santa Fe, NM

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion

Award Amount: $999,042

Match Amount: $260,461

Total Project Amount: $1,259,503

Scaling Up New Mexico’s Value Chain Coordination Network 

“Scaling Up New Mexico’s Value Chain Coordination (NM-VCC) Network” will strengthen successful

public and private collaborations of New Mexico’s Value Chain Coordination Entities (VCCEs) in order to

develop the long-term economic viability of the state’s agriculture producers, while providing increased

consumer access to healthy, local food, especially for lower-income populations. Building upon excellent

current statewide VCCE partnerships that span a breadth of entity types, technical skills, and

specializations, the project will strengthen producer resilience and catalyze New Mexico’s local food

economies by improving shared resources and reducing administrative and technical barriers for

participating Value Chain Coordination Professionals (VCCPs).

Occasionally, the food hubs/Transactional Partners (TPs), and the relational specialists/Support Partners

(SPs) will engage in a dual track of complementary activities that allow for targeted strategies to meet

each group’s unique needs. By project’s end, the NM-VCC Network will have mutually supportive,

shared resources including databases/dashboards for monitoring and reporting on local produce

purchase data, Quality Management Systems for institutional and other wholesale procurement, and

producer training resources for wholesale production and marketing.
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Additional project outcomes will include stakeholder meetings to foster new institutional and buyer

relationships, reliable reporting metrics for VCCE work, and shared advocacy efforts to support

legislation that promotes market development and/or reduces regulatory barriers. The project will use a

collective impact model with backbone leadership, consultant technical assistance, and outside

evaluation support so that partners can create a common agenda, develop shared measurement

systems, decide upon mutually reinforcing activities, and participate in continuous communication to

achieve project objectives.

Ohio

Recipient: Green Umbrella, Cincinnati, OH

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion

Award Amount: $609,951

Match Amount: $174,758

Total Project Amount: $784,709

GCRFPC Partnerships for a Healthy Regional Food System 

GCRFPC Partnerships to Build a Healthy Regional Food System leverages local, state and national

partnerships to advance collaboration on key projects for building a regional food system that serves ALL

residents of greater Cincinnati. The Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council (GCRFPC) convenes

stakeholders from across ten counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana to advocate for policy, systems,

and environment change. We work through policy advocacy, convening community forums, and

publishing research on the state of the regional food system.

The project goals are to increase institutional and consumer purchasing of local foods. The key

objectives and activities of this partnership are to:

• Increase institutional local food purchasing by advocating for more institutions to adopt formal

local food purchasing policies and for policy change to create financial flexibility for schools to

purchase locally;

• Increase consumer demand for local foods by implementing a comprehensive regional local

food marketing strategy in partnership with key institutions and working with anchor

institutions and corporate partners to create employee incentives for purchasing local food;

• Improve household access to local food by convening market managers and famers to

implement strategies for improving the efficiency and convenience of farmers’ markets, and

expanding neighborhood-scale distribution of local foods to corner stores in low-income

neighborhoods;

• Expand organizational capacity for local food systems change advocacy by facilitating ongoing

meetings of the GCRFRPC and investing in evaluation and analysis of the impacts of our

collective work.

Vermont
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Recipient: Tiny Seed Project, Inc., East Hardwick, VT

Project Type: Planning & Design

Award Amount: $246,893

Match Amount: $171,309

Total Project Amount: $418,202

Raising Grain: Reviving the Northeast Grainshed

The Northeast Grainshed Partnership consists of a diverse and growing number of key stakeholders in

the Northeast (New England, New Jersey, and New York) regional grain system: grain growers,

processors, producers, organizations, institutions, researchers, and the public. The Partnership operates

as a networking hub and planning initiative, primarily to connect grain-related businesses and

organizations. The Partnership’s vision is to revive a functional and resilient regional grain system.

The project goals are to:

• Establish a framework for a regional grain system, leveraging the Northeast Grainshed as both a

networking hub for partnership stakeholders and a planning initiative that connects businesses

and consumers.

• Unite the Northeast region under one staple crop `brand’ through a coordinated consumer

awareness and education campaign to bring attention to the Northeast’s unique contribution to

the local food industry and increase demand for regionally produced and processed grains.

The Partnership will meet both goals through our collective expertise, experience, and enthusiasm

among grain growers, private industry partners, non-profits, and land grant universities. For example,

GrowNYC, a project partner, has 50 years of experience supporting New Yorkers in accessing local food

through their Greenmarkets network.

Over the project period, the Partnership will develop an Action Plan with methods to achieve the

following: increased communication and networking between farms and grain-based businesses; a

consumer education campaign to raise the profile of regional grains; identification of stakeholder needs,

missing or weak links in the regional grain system, and missing partners; and development of a framework 

for a Northeast regional grain system.

Virginia

Recipient: Appalachian Sustainable Development, Bristol, VA

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion

Award Amount: $999,968

Match Amount: $386,265

Total Project Amount: $1,386,233

Expanding Food and Agriculture Value Chains in Central Appalachia by Creating a MultiStakeholder Cooperative

The project, Expanding Food and Agriculture Value Chains in Central Appalachia by Creating a MultiStakeholder Cooperative, brings together 5 innovative anchor organizations and established food hubs
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who will connect with an estimated 15 additional food hubs throughout Central Appalachia to design a

scalable and collaborative model to access mid-tier markets.

The project goal will address the needs of underserved farmers, processors and rural communities in

low wealth and depopulated counties in six states. Each partner brings unique expertise, shared values,

and tested approaches to reframe a regional food system that ensure access to healthy, local food

through equitable supply chains that create viable, rural livelihoods for producers and processors.

Over the past five years, project partners have invested in infrastructure, staffing and distribution

partnerships in their sub-regions. As a collective marketing and distribution network, partners are

prepared to formalize a cooperative model to leverage scarce resources, attract new public and private

investment, and better serve all stakeholders in all regions of Central Appalachia.

Washington

Recipient: Northwest Agriculture Business Center, Mount Vernon, WA

Project Type: Implementation & Expansion

Award Amount: $994,400

Match Amount: $248,609

Total Project Amount: $1,243,009

Puget Sound Regional Food System Partnership

The Northwest Agriculture Business Center (NABC) recognizes that the Puget Sound region is fertile

ground for the development of a cohesive collaboration of existing agencies and entities with the

common goal of developing a vibrant and sustainable food system.

NABC will serve as the project manager, leverage long-standing relationships, and work in partnership

with multiple local, state and federal governmental agencies, nonprofits, lending institutions,

institutions of higher learning, producer-owned cooperatives, food producers and others. This project

starts with a baseline of service to nine established producer-owned processing, marketing, and

distribution cooperatives and more than 200 agricultural producers that currently serve more than 300

supermarkets, institutional food service providers, restaurants, and food banks, throughout a 10-county

region of the Puget Sound, working to feed over 4.6 million people.

NABC proposes facilitating the formation of a qualified and capable body of collaborators to work

together as a forward thinking and responsive agent to:

• Support the development of necessary infrastructure projects for value-added food processing

and distribution and provide hands on technical assistance to farms and food businesses to

support expansion and gain access to capital.

• Create a network of independent farmer-owned food hub cooperatives, which leverages

efficiencies in marketing and production planning, business operations, logistics, financial and

risk management, and improves profitability.

• Implement a replicable food access model in which food hubs, farmers, and food banks 

collaborate to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables