Public Resources » Grants & Cost Share Programs

Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program

Program Overview 

The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is a federal cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to state departments of agriculture to build resilience across the middle-of-the supply-chain and strengthen local and regional food systems by creating new revenue streams for their state's producers.

Funds are supporting expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products excluding meat and poultry. This program is intended to provide similar support to other programs which provided USDA funding for meat and poultry processing, but this program is focused on sectors other than meat and poultry.

Kansas is working in partnership with the USDA to make competitive subawards to create more diverse local and regional market options and create more economic opportunities for communities, allowing them to retain more of the value chain dollar.

Grant Types

The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) was awarded $6,459,355.99 from the USDA to award competitive grants to Kansas food and farm businesses and other eligible entities for projects that expand capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of targeted local and regional agricultural products. There are two types of grants under the RFSI program. Applicants are only eligible to receive one grant.  

Infrastructure Grants range in value from a minimum award of $100,000 and a maximum award of $3,000,000 and required cost sharing or matching of 50% of the project cost. For underserved farmers and ranchers, a reduced match was required at 25% of the project cost. The Infrastructure Grant application closed on January 31, 2024. 

The first round of Simplified Equipment-Only Grants range in value from a minimum award of $10,000 and a maximum award of $100,000 and did not require cost sharing or matching. The Simplified Equipment-Only Grant was a fixed price grant, meaning it only funded equipment purchases and the amount awarded was equal to the cost of the equipment up to $100,000. The application for the first round of Simplified Equipment-Only Grants closed on January 31, 2024. 

The second round of Simplified Equipment-Only Grants range in value from a minimum award of $10,000 and a maximum award of $50,000 and do not require cost sharing or matching. Again, the Simplified Equipment-Only Grant will be a fixed price grant, meaning it will only fund equipment purchases and the amount awarded is equal to the cost of the equipment up to $50,000. The Simplified Equipment-Only Grant will operate on an accelerated timeline and all equipment purchases must be made by the end of the calendar year. The application for the second round of Simplified Equipment-Only Grants closed on July 18, 2025.

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