Kansas Rural Center
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service on Wednesday, July 16 its intent to terminate a national program to support the development of small farms, local food businesses, and regional food supply chains.
The announcement allows for the 5-state Heartland Regional Food Business Center to continue normal operations until September 15, 2025, and prepare a plan for a skeleton crew to support 90 Round 1 Business Builder grant awards. USDA funding for Round 2 of the grant program will not proceed.
The Heartland Center is administered by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in cooperation with co-director New Growth and the Center’s Governance Council. The Governance Council will continue deliberations about maintaining the Heartland Center as a network of collaborating support organizations with or without alternative funding. Kansas Rural Center is a Heartland Center support organization and member of the Governance Council.
Essential Farm Business Support
The Regional Food Business Centers (RFBC) program was part of a national security effort to strengthen the nation’s food supply.
The RFBC program provided seed funding for on-the-ground organizations to build stronger and ongoing support for local and regional farm and food businesses, including needed supply chain infrastructure, such as delivery logistics, food processing equipment, and financing. RFBCs worked to build food supply strength for everyday health and wellness and greater resilience through shocks, such as terror attacks and the kind of economic disruption the country experienced with empty grocery shelves during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Heartland Regional Food Business Center is one of 12 RFBCs across the country. It started up in 2023 with USDA seed funding to serve local food and farm entrepreneurs in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and nine northwest Arkansas counties.
More than 2,500 Served
The Heartland Center’s 32 on-the-ground partner organizations have already assisted more than 2,500 food and farm enterprises across this region. Program termination will eliminate USDA funding for business development supportstaff working at partner organizations.
“It is devastating that USDA seed funding for this regional effort to build small food and farm businesses and supply chains will end two years earlier than expected,” said Katie Nixon with rural Missouri community development corporation New Growth.
“Our 32 partner organizations are committed to the work. We will continue collaboration to the best of our ability and seek further investment in this important economic development effort.”
Hundreds Miss Out on Grant Opportunity
Nearly half of Heartland Center total funding ($25 million over four years) was dedicated to directly supporting business expansion projects among small food and farm businesses in the region through Business Builder Subaward grants.
The group of 90 Round 1 finalists is just one-fifth of the 479 applications the Heartland Center received with requests totaling more than $20 million. Round 1 will provide $3.7 million for finalists’ projects.
The Heartland Center had expected as many as 1,000 applicants for its planned Round 2 funding pool of $8.3 million.