Transportation and Marketing

Local Food Promotion Program

Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 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 FY 21 funded projects that included Farm to Institution components in their project 

descriptions. This document may not be inclusive of all FY21 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

AZ Prescott Farmers Market Inc. Seeds for Success: Prescott Farmers Market Food Hub and Business 

Incubator Pilot in Central Yavapai County

Implementation 

CA Valley Vision Inc. Expanding the Local Food System for Yolo County through the Yolo 

Food Hub

Planning 

Foodshed Inc. Foodshed Farm Hub: Mobilizing Small Farms and Neighborhoods Implementation

GA Georgia Organics Inc. Cultivating Farmer Champions: Farm to chef and Farm to ECE 

Campaign

Implementation

IL Central Illinois Farm-Fresh 

Enterprise Development 

Cooperative

Bridging the Gap Between Local Farmers and Consumers in Central 

Illinois through a Cooperative Food Processing Facility

Planning 

IA Iowa Farmers Union Education 

Foundation

Growing Local Food for Iowa - Feeding Iowa's Children and Improving 

Local Food Education

Implementation

MA World Farmers Inc. Expanding Sales for Immigrant and Refugee Farmers and Increasing 

Food Access for Low Income Families through New Market 

Opportunities

Implementation

MI Kalamazoo Valley Community 

College

Operationalizing Best Practices for Local and Regional Value Chains Implementation

MN Renewing The Countryside II Fortify and Multiply Farmers’ Markets Hubs to improve Community 

Health and Farm Viability

Implementation

NM Rio Grande Community Dev. 

Corp.

Rio Grande Local Foods Logistic and Distribution Program (RGLDP) Implementation

NY Cornell Cooperative Extension 

of Saratoga County

Feasibility study for the creation of a food hub and networking system 

in Schuylerville, NY. Incorporating school systems, low-income 

populations, and local agriculture producers.

Planning 

Council on the Environment Inc. 

dba GrowNYC

Diversifying the Next Generation of Wholesale Suppliers and Buyers Implementation

PA Keystone Development Center 

Inc.

Establishing a Regional Food System in Southern Alleghenies PA Planning 

SC Gullah Farmers Cooperative 

Association

Gullah Farmers Cooperative's Regional Wholesale Success Project Implementation

WA Gullah Farmers Cooperative's 

Regional Wholesale Success 

Project

Multi-use Food Center Planning Project: Increasing Value-added 

Production and Expanding Markets in Rural Island Communities, San 

Juan County, Washington

Planning 

WI REAP Food Group Inc. Creating a Wholesale Farm Fresh Atlas Program for Wisconsin Planning

For more information, including a comprehensive list of funded projects, many of which include development and 

expansion of wholesale markets that my serve institutions, please visit the grant program's website:

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

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

Recipient: Prescott Farmers Market Inc.

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $344,762.20

Match Amount: $86,408.62

Total Project Amount: $431,170.82

Seeds for Success: Prescott Farmers Market Food Hub and Business Incubator Pilot in Central 

Yavapai County 

The demand for locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables in Yavapai County is growing fast, and local

farmers are struggling to match supply with demand. In addition, the county has seen a surge in people

wanting to start or expand small food businesses; however, Yavapai County does not have a single

commissary kitchen. With a current growth rate of 11.4 percent over the past 10 years, now is the

critical time to help farmers and small food producers scale up to feed their community. Seeds for

Success will bridge the gaps in our local food system, creating a resilient network of growers, small food

businesses and institutions by 1) aggregating local produce and meats in a central location for

distribution to local restaurants and institutions; 2) opening a state-of-the-art commissary kitchen to

address the urgent need of food entrepreneurs; 3) developing and piloting a food business incubator

program, creating an estimated 30 new careers; and 4) recruiting and supporting new and beginning

farmers and ranchers to help them enter the marketplace.

California

Recipient: Valley Vision Inc.

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $173,250.00

Match Amount: $43,920.00

Total Project Amount: $217,170.00

Expanding the Local Food System for Yolo County through the Yolo Food Hub 

Valley Vision is requesting funding under the LFPP to conduct planning activities associated with

developing a local food hub to further support access to and availability of locally produced foods in Yolo

County and the Greater Sacramento Region. These efforts are in direct support of Capay Valley Farm

Shop, an existing food hub seeking to expand, and other partners, including Yolo Food Bank and New

Season Community Development Corporation. The objectives under this project are to first bring

together partners across the industry to collaboratively work toward improving the local food system

through a food hub. Secondly, the project will determine the needs of local farmers and buyers that

could be addressed by a food hub providing services such as value-added processing, distribution and

logistics, storage, and packing. Using those needs, our third objective is to determine the operational

and financial feasibility of a food hub to serve local farmers and buyers. Our final objective is to

determine how a food hub could reach new institutional markets and provide direct training to support

staff in reaching those markets. A focus will include connecting small, economically disadvantaged,

Veteran and BIPOC farmers to new markets and to improve the resiliency of the regional food system

through strengthening local supply chains, thus also contributing to the region’s economic recovery

from the challenging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and lengthy stay-at-home orders.
Recipient: Asian Business Institute and Resource Center

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $534,714.99

Match Amount: $214,040.00

Total Project Amount: $748,754.99

Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Communities: Mutual Support Laced Through Food Supply 

Chains 

The proposed Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Communities: Mutual Support Laced Through Food

Supply Chains project is a collaboration of 3 organizations whose goal is to assist the most socially

disadvantaged farmers in Fresno County, the largest agricultural producing county in the US, to sell their

produce in northern California as part of a large-scale effort to promote Southeast Asian (SEA) specialty

crops. The Asian Business Institute and Resource Center will recruit and retain SEA farmers, provide

business education, aggregate produce, and arrange for food safety training, GAP certifications, and

transportation of crops. Saba Grocers has committed to buying and distributing SEA produce in up to 15

of 70 stores whose produce is sold at corner stores in food deserts. Slow Foods East Bay will identify

buyers who want local, good quality produce for their food insecure clientele and run agritourism events

from the Bay Area to Fresno farms. Top Chefs with SEA roots and over 12,000 followers will produce

recipes with crops grown by ABIRC farmers and promote them on Instagram and YouTube. These recipes 

will be absorbed into ABIRC’s farm-to-school projects in the third largest school district, one where 100% 

of students receive free meals, and rural schools whose poverty rates exceed 50%. Key outcomes include 

food safety training and GAP certifications to increase socially disadvantaged farmers’economic viability, 

promotion of SEA specialty crops, fresh produce distribution in high poverty neighborhoods, recipes to 

promote local specialty crops, and the building of a pipeline of buyers for long-term sustainability.

Recipient: Foodshed Inc.

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $451,600.00

Match Amount: $112,900.00

Total Project Amount: $564,500.00

Foodshed Farm Hub: Mobilizing Small Farms and Neighborhoods 

Nearly 1 in 3 San Diegans experience nutritional insecurity and the number of local farms has diminished

by half since 2000. Foodshed, Inc. is a farmer-owned, cooperatively run distribution company that works

at the intersection of farm viability and food insecurity to create mid-tier value chain solutions and

reverse these negative trends. We plan to utilize LFPP funds to transition from the subsidized emergency

distribution strategy we employed during the height of the pandemic to an operational model that

increases retail sales by 25% per year and ensures the products we distribute remain affordable and

accessible. To achieve these outcomes, Foodshed staff will engage in conscientious planning with our

network of farmers and provide technical assistance to help them achieve ambitious aggregation goals,

improve distribution capacity at the Foodshed Farm Hub in central San Diego, engage community health

outreach workers to conduct linguistically and culturally appropriate outreach about the value of locally

grown produce in San Diego’s diverse urban core, and advocate among organizational and institutional

collaborators for long-term strategies that improve local food distribution infrastructure and ensure

mid-tier value chain investments serve socially disadvantaged farmers and communities. At the end of

the project, Foodshed, Inc. will have sufficient revenue to independently sustain operations at the Farm
Hub, more than 30 small farms will have an economically viable sales channel to distribute their

produce, and more than 5,000 residents of central San Diego will have improved access to fresh, local,

fruits and vegetables.

Georgia

Recipient: Georgia Organics Inc.

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $687,489.79

Match Amount: $171,872.45

Total Project Amount: $859,362.24

Cultivating Farmer Champions: Farm to Chef and Farm to ECE Campaign 

The Cultivating Farmer Champions campaign connects and cultivates food economies through publicprivate partnerships, strengthens capacity and regional food system development through community

collaboration, and develops marketing strategies for local food producers. Georgia Organics will build a

more resilient local food system by diversifying and increasing sales from small farms in Georgia to chefs

working in or outside of traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants (caterers, pop-ups, food trucks) and in

early care and education (ECE) sites. We will accomplish these goals through three objectives: 1. Provide

technical services in farm systems management, business planning (including diversifying income

streams), food safety, and organic certification to small farms in Georgia, especially those owned by

socially-disadvantaged farmers, to meet the demand and need for local, safe, consistent, and organic

agricultural products in Georgia’s food marketplace; 2. Strengthen local food system resiliency by

cultivating a diversified market base of chefs working in or outside of brick-and-mortar restaurants and

in ECE sites through an expanded Farmer Champion branding campaign that celebrates and recognizes

chefs and ECE centers for purchasing from Georgia’s small farms; 3. Facilitate opportunities for

connection and collaboration between chefs and farmers through Farmer/Buyer events (Mix and Mingle

event; Progressive Meet and Greet; direct one-on-one match making, including ECE centers; Farm Tours

for Farmers and Buyers). Expanding our Farmer Champion campaign broadens the pool of chefs sourcing

from farmers, increases distribution of local and organic food from Georgia producers, and addresses

equity, considering the challenges faced by BIPOC and women chefs related to opening traditional

restaurants.

 Illinois

Recipient: Central Illinois Farm-Fresh Enterprise Development Cooperative

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $189,565.60

Match Amount: $50,000.00

Total Project Amount: $239,565.60

Bridging the Gap Between Local Farmers and Consumers in Central Illinois through a 

Cooperative Food Processing Facility 

The Central Illinois Farm-Fresh Enterprise Development Cooperative (FarmFED Co-op) will fill a critical

need in our region by connecting rural producers with institutional and retail buyers in Central Illinois

through the processing and freezing of local produce. The region has seen steady growth in fresh
produce output by small and mid-scale growers in recent years, but despite its rich agricultural

resources, Central Illinois lacks the infrastructure for local growers to reach larger buyers within our

region, limiting their business growth and also restricting access to high-quality fresh food by their own

community members. A planning process was begun in March 2020 to determine the structure,

opportunities, and hurdles of a facility that would freeze bulk produce from local growers and make it

available to institutional buyers in Central Illinois. Now, with a cooperative formed to put this plan into

action, FarmFED Co-op seeks funding to complete its planning process as it prepares to begin operations

in 2023, gathering and analyzing information critical to the sustainability of the cooperative. Project

outcomes will include a completed plan to promote the cooperative; a landscape analysis that will

identify the Central Illinois market for frozen local produce beyond our initial targeted research; a

detailed design and purchasing plan needed to build out and operate an efficient, food-safe, fresh

produce processing facility; a protocol for ensuring transparency of values-based characteristics of

produce, an analysis of the facility’s food safety needs, and the establishment of contracts with growers

and buyers for the facility’s inaugural season.

Iowa

Recipient: Iowa Farmers Union Education Foundation

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $296,203.05

Match Amount: $75,752.00

Total Project Amount: $371,955.05

Growing Local Food for Iowa - Feeding Iowa's Children and Improving Local Food Education 

Core partners such as the Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and SPPG

have been working to improve Iowa’s local food systems through research, support programs,

education, policy, and advocacy. These partners have jumpstarted the growth in demand for local

products by targeting education and support efforts to childcare homes and centers, as well as

increasing supply by connecting with and supporting the five Iowa food hubs. While demand for local

product has grown, there is still room to expand to more communities. This requires continued outreach

to smaller institutions, further supports to food hubs for transportation and the beginning of a larger,

state-wide education and marketing campaign. Through these three activities, the Growing Local Food

for Iowa project will stimulate demand to create more supply and encourage Iowa producers to

participate in the local food system. Activities for this project include the expansion of the current

“teacher box” program through Iowa food hubs to serve eighty new sites. Research into piloting a new

“drop site” program and finally generating reports on capital and other resources saved through this

pilot program. This project also begins greater outreach to Iowa citizens, by researching, developing, and

implementing a state-wide education and marketing campaign to advertise local product availability,

seasonality, and where local product can be purchased. This project is expected to serve over 300,000

Iowans through existing and new partnerships.

Massachusetts

Recipient: World Farmers Inc.

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $749,211.41

Match Amount: $214,172.82

Total Project Amount: $963,384.23
Expanding Sales for Immigrant and Refugee Farmers and Increasing Food Access for Low 

Income Families through New Market Opportunities 

This project will support and facilitate sales for the 322+ immigrant and refugee farmers in our Flats

Mentor Farm (FMF) program through several market channels. Through this project, World Farmers will

increase sales of locally-grown cultural crops to diverse communities and consumers, increase

accessibility of cultural crops to low-income communities, facilitate development of new cultural valueadded products, and overall expand aggregation, processing, and distribution efforts to increase sale of

locally- and immigrant-grown crops and food products throughout Massachusetts. Building on previous

successes and lessons learned, World Farmers will achieve this by fostering growth of farmer capacities,

developing new market opportunities including those of value-added products, refining World Farmers’

and FMF farmers’ market promotion strategies both digital and print, and increase adoption of our

state-administered food safety program widely recognized by institutional buyers. Our overarching goal

is to increase sales of cultural crops locally grown by immigrant farmers, for immigrant communities.

Our outcomes are to increase the sales and profits of local immigrant and refugee farmers while

ensuring each farmer has secure and stable markets in place, and to facilitate access to and sales of

fresh, local, and culturally important produce to marginalized cultural communitiesin Massachusetts.

Michigan

Recipient: Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $607,115.00

Match Amount: $161,860.00

Total Project Amount: $768,975.00

Operationalizing Best Practices for Local and Regional Value Chains 

Program partners throughout the US, and many in Michigan, have spent decades developing initiatives

to support local and regional food producers access steady, high-volume markets of institutional food

service providers (IFSP), via food safety certification assistance, value chain coordination, and

promotion. ValleyHUB at Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC), a social enterprise farm and food

hub, an active partner in this work, has experienced firsthand the challenges both growers and IFSPs

have in increasing capacity. KVCC requests funding to continue ValleyHUB’s work to support farm-toinstitution supply chains in Southwest Michigan, and to fill gaps that have been identified from our

work. We propose continuing our outreach and marketing work with institutional and retail buyers but

shifting the focus of our farm food safety work to a flexible, responsive approach that provides the

appropriate level of food safety assurance for the farm size and customer type. We will add an

additional focus on workforce development, training, and capacity building for IFSP staff to increase the

demand for local and regionally produced agricultural products. This project will grow KVCC ValleyHUB’s

throughput of locally and regionally produced food products from $330k to at least $750k annually and

establish a sustainable level of operations to continue to provide ongoing educational opportunities.

Minnesota
Recipient: Renewing The Countryside II

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $740,328.00

Match Amount: $186,504.00

Total Project Amount: $926,832.00

Fortify and Multiply Farmers’ Markets Hubs to improve Community Health and Farm Viability 

This project will create functional and efficient connections between small-scale local farmers,

institutional and wholesale buyers, consumers, and those suffering from food insecurity. Aggregation

programs create opportunities for farmers to access local buyers, increase profits, and grow sustainable

businesses, while providing buyers with expanded local product choices. By developing and expanding

ten Farmers’ Market Hubs in Minnesota, aggregation of product, online ordering, and utilization of

farmers’ markets help overcome wholesale barriers, including buyers’ needs for product volume and

consistency, online ordering capacity, regular delivery, compliance with food handling regulations, and

reducing cost. Farmers gain efficiencies through group marketing, licensing, insurance, invoicing, and

order management without added costs of a brick and mortar food hub. Renewing the Countryside, MN

Farmers’ Market Assn, MN Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, MN Dept of Agriculture, MN Statewide

Health Improvement Partnership Coordinators, local farmers’ markets, and others will build on five

years of preliminary work to develop and expand our Farmers’ Market Hub model to five new Hubs and

further develop five existing Hubs. We expect that 240 farmers will gain the potential to increase the

amount of local food sold and consumed within 10 communities. 800 food insecure individuals,

including those homebound, in treatment centers and seniors, will gain access to local food through

subsidized Market Share boxes. Over 60 schools, hospitals, retail establishments, health and human

services entities will participate in purchasing and serving local food.

New Mexico

Recipient: Rio Grande Community Dev. Corp.

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $749,982.55

Match Amount: $218,131.80

Total Project Amount: $968,114.35

Rio Grande Local Foods Logistic and Distribution Program (RGLDP) 

The Rio Grande Local Foods Logistic and Distribution Program (RGLDP) develops the capacity of local

farmers, ranchers, food producers, and intermediaries to increase and diversify sales to retailers, foodmanufacturers, and institutions in the north-south I-25 corridor from Taos to Las Cruces, NM. The I25LFDP supports processing, sales, promotion, and distribution by scaling capacity and providing inperson and online T/TA, including food safety certification training. The RGLDP is led by Rio Grande

Community Development Corporation (RGCDC), manager of the South Valley Economic Development

Center (SVEDC), which includes the Mixing Bowl (MB) program, the largest food-industry business

incubator in New Mexico, and Delicious New Mexico (DNM), a proven distribution infrastructure, and

includes partnerships with Agri-Cultural Network, a cooperative of local farmers; the Hispanic-American

Institute, a nonprofit experienced in institutional marketing; Mayordomo Food Systems (MFS), a small

enterprise software provider; and New Mexico Fresh Foods, the first High Pressure Processing (HPP)

facility in the Southwest. The RGLDP will build on RGCDC’s innovative and cost-effective value chain
infrastructure DNM and its experienced food incubator MB, both located at SVEDC. The RGLDP will help

local food producers grow 15% annually by providing 1) T/TA in agricultural product and business

development; 2) access to SVEDC’s processing, aggregation, and storing capacity; 3) T/TA to meet GAP

requirements; 4) access to MFS tools including tracking the exact location where produce is grown; 5)

inventory to multiple buyers; 6) use data to develop business. The I- 25LFDP will help participants

respond to market requirements of volume, quality, supply, food safety, and price.

New York

Recipient: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $200,000.00

Match Amount: $50,000.00

Total Project Amount: $250,000.00

Feasibility study for the creation of a food hub and networking system in Schuylerville, NY. 

Incorporating school systems, low-income populations, and local agriculture producers. 

School lunch programs in the Tri-County area (Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties) have had

difficulty in obtaining the NYS 30% Initiative due to the challenges of sourcing from existing food hubs,

and from individual farmers. Local growers, similarly, have had difficulty in accessing institutional

markets due to the quantities required of the industry. Low-income populations in the Tri-County area

have little access to low-cost local foods, which can provide greater nutrient density than their

conventionally grown counterparts. This project will research the feasibility of creating a food hub in

Schuylerville, NY. As a part of this study, and resulting business proposal, a plan for addressing the needs

of low-income communities, growers, school lunch programs, and other institutional buyers will be

included. A small-scale food hub will be created, to act as a proof of concept, and facilitate school lunch

programs in obtaining the NYS 30% Initiative through cooperative bidding. Creation of a business

proposal for the food hub will include the input of local growers to better understand and incorporate

their needs. Included in the business proposal will also be a plan for making local foods more accessible

to low-income populations in the Tri-County area. We expect to find that the addition of a food hub in

Schuylerville, NY will create a more robust local food economy, generate more revenue for local growers

and school lunch programs, and create a more equitable food system.

Recipient: Council on the Environment Inc. dba GrowNYC

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $688,168.26

Match Amount: $172,125.00

Total Project Amount: $860,293.26

Diversifying the Next Generation of Wholesale Suppliers and Buyers 

For the past 45 years GrowNYC has developed innovative models to meet its two-part mission: regional

farm viability and the equitable access for all New Yorkers to locally-grown foods. Current demand for

local foods in New York City’s wholesale marketplace is booming, and yet new farmers, low-resource

farmers, and socially disadvantaged farmers face numerous barriers to these sales opportunities such as

lack of formal food safety plans and access to financial planning tools. Focusing on graduates of

GrowNYC’s Farm Beginnings program, this project will pair technical assistance in food safety and

financial planning with marketing, aggregation, and distribution services via GrowNYC Wholesale, which
currently serves more than 300 buyers such as food businesses, institutions, and nonprofit programs

purchasing local foods in volume. To drive demand in underserved communities of New York City,

GrowNYC will partner with organizations working on food access at the neighborhood level. These

partners will act as “microhubs” by functioning as anchor buyers while facilitating the incorporation of

more local foods into the business and program models of local businesses and organizations. The

outcomes of this project will include training 12 farmers in food safety and business planning and

increasing sales of local foods grown by participating farmers by more than 25% over the course of the

grant.

Pennsylvania

Recipient: Keystone Development Center Inc.

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $106,901.84

Match Amount: $26,710.00

Total Project Amount: $133,611.84

Establishing a Regional Food System in Southern Alleghenies PA 

The Pennsylvania Agricultural Ombudsman Program in partnership with many regional partners in the

Southern Alleghanies region, are assessing the feasibility of a robust local food system in Pennsylvania.

Agriculture, the number one industry in the Southern Alleghenies, has been stressed due to falling milk

prices, an aging workforce, and a lack of local marketing opportunities. Additionally, community

members face challenges buying local food due to low income and low access. The COVID-19 pandemic

revealed the vulnerability of our global supply chain, and closer to home, it has put a spotlight on the

fragility of our regional food system. Southern Alleghenies partners are looking to build a more resilient

food chain that will support regional farms and increase community members’ access to healthy, locally

grown food. The purpose of this project is to conduct a feasibility study assessing the agricultural

capacity of our region including raw product availability, aggregation/distribution gaps, and barriers to

farm-business diversification or value-add opportunities. This process will connect and cultivate privatepublic stakeholders, including a team of trusted community leaders, experienced farmers, and

collaborators with a high level of related expertise. Focus groups will identify needs, gaps, and barriers,

develop a shared vision, and identify solutions that will support a mid-tier value chain to establish a

regional food system. Specifically, we want to explore a food hub’s impact on regional farmers’

economic opportunities by finding new and more profitable end-users. Finally, we want to increase local

food consumption in schools within the food desert neighborhoods of Altoona, PA.

South Carolina

Recipient: Gullah Farmers Cooperative Association

Project Type: Implementation

Award Amount: $388,960.00

Match Amount: $106,000.00

Total Project Amount: $494,960.00

Gullah Farmers Cooperative's Regional Wholesale Success Project 

The purpose of this project is to ensure that the Gullah Farmers Cooperative’s Packaging and Processing
Facility can – in a financially sustainable way – maximize local, wholesale produce sales for socially

disadvantaged and other small farmers in our region. Led by farmers, the facility centers the needs of

experienced, highly productive, socially disadvantaged wholesale farmers who have historically had

limited access to sales relationships, infrastructure, and other supports that can secure an appropriate

share of the wholesale market (services are open to all local small farmers). Recently the Cooperative

launched a 10,000 sq. ft. packing and processing facility to provide critical infrastructure connecting

GAP-certified small farmers to local/regional wholesale markets. After six years of pilot operations and

capital investments, the facility is on track for $50,000+ in sales in just its first five months. Many socially

disadvantaged farmers in our emerging procurement program, and on the waiting list, have limited

resources and need additional support to be competitive. This project prioritizes efficiencies, financial

modeling and operational investments that will enable the operations to scale smoothly, as we already

have piloted relationships with the local school systems (more than 30,000 children), and buying

relationships with local hubs and food service such as Sodexo. With investment in regional wholesale

success (business efficiencies and capacity, the procurement program for socially disadvantaged farmers

and regional sourcing plans, outreach and sales), we will grow sales by $700,000 for these farmers over

three years and achieve financial sustainability for the operations.

Washington

Recipient: San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $162,264.00

Match Amount: $40,566.00

Total Project Amount: $202,830.00

Multi-use Food Center Planning Project: Increasing Value-added Production and Expanding 

Markets in Rural Island Communities, San Juan County, Washington 

The Multi-use Food Center Planning Project aims to increase economic opportunities for farmers and

value-added producers in San Juan County, Washington by expanding markets, organizational and

infrastructure capacity, and access to healthy local food. Island farmers and producers face barriers in

the geographically isolated county (served by the Washington state ferry system), including limited

access to markets and a lack of adequate processing and storage facilities.

However, there is significant demand for local products, driven by both community, institutional, and

tourist consumers, as well as additional potential for agritourism. This county-wide endeavor is led by

nonprofits, the Lopez Island Family Resource Center and Taproot Community Kitchen, working in

collaboration with the San Juan Islands Food Hub, a multi-stakeholder cooperative. The LFPP grant

would enable this public-private partnership (PPP) to 1) develop a business and marketing plan to

determine an ownership model, a financial stability strategy, and an operations plan; 2) identify key

elements for the design of the facility; and, 3) increase knowledge of wholesale and retail food safety

regulation and best practices among facility users. The Multi-use Food Center would serve as a

replicable pilot project to develop mid-tier value chains among the county’s islands and with

neighboring counties on the mainland by providing access to processing and value-added production,

dry/cold/frozen storage, and educational/incubator space for use by both non-profits and entrepreneurs
who buy directly from local farmers.

Wisconsin

Recipient: REAP Food Group Inc.

Project Type: Planning

Award Amount: $200,000.00

Match Amount: $56,284.00

Total Project Amount: $256,284.00

Creating a Wholesale Farm Fresh Atlas Program for Wisconsin

The purpose of the project is to design and pilot 1) a wholesale Farm Fresh Atlas and create 2)

wholesale-ready program to increase the sales from small-and medium-scale farmers to institutional

buyers in southern Wisconsin. The project aims to establish a digital wholesale version of the direct-toconsumer Farm Fresh Atlas and build a Wholesale Readiness program for farmers interested in scaling

up to sell to a variety of wholesale buyers (aggregators, food hubs, grocery stores, restaurants,

institutions). This planning project will pilot this program in southern Wisconsin though many of the

technical assistance materials will be available and useful to producers and buyers statewide.