Staff Report
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has announced that the Nevada Food Business Center is accepting applications for the first round of Business Builder Grants.
There is $200,000 available in 2025 to fund post-production activities by food systems businesses in Nevada. The max award is $50,000.
During the first quarter of 2025, a second opportunity for funding will be connected to the Business Builder Accelerator Education & Technical Assistance Program. Awards are from $5,000 - $10,000, with total available funding of $100,000. Both funding opportunities will be offered annually from 2025-2027.
Kelli Kelly is the Agriculture and Food Systems Business Advisor for the Nevada Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and is available to provide technical assistance to businesses who may qualify - both to discuss their idea and eligibility and to assist through the application process. In order to receive assistance, businesses would need to sign up as SBDC clients at the nevadasbdc.org website, click "Request Advising," complete the New Client Intake Form, and indicate referred by "Southwest Regional Food Business Center."
“The Regional Food Business Centers are a cornerstone of USDA’s food system transformation efforts, serving to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access the resources and technical assistance they need to access new markets,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Southwest Center’s Business Builder Subaward program will empower the region’s small and mid-sized farmers and food businesses to launch and expand their operations by establishing new revenue streams and gaining investors. This program is crucial to achieving the vision the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA have of a food system that fosters opportunities for regional food businesses and rural economies.”
"We are thrilled to distribute Business Builder awards across the Southwest in partnership with USDA, which will address the unique needs of farmers, ranchers, and food producers while strengthening local food systems with lasting impact," said Tracy Celio, Program Manager for the Southwest Regional Food Business Center.
In May 2023, USDA awarded $360 million to finalists to establish 12 Regional Food Business Centers, including a National Intertribal Food Business Center, to provide essential local and regional food systems coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building. These centers assist small and mid-sized producers and food and farm businesses create a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system. The Southwest Regional Food Business Center, led by the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, works to accelerate a resilient, diverse, and competitive local and regional food system by improving opportunities for food and farm businesses across its four-state region.
The USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center has allocated $4.1 million for its Business Builder program and will distribute competitive and non-competitive awards. This funding is distributed through annual or semi-annual state-level competitive programs and offers awards linked to technical assistance on an annual or rolling basis, depending on the state.
The Center will distribute non-competitive awards to farms and food businesses in California, Nevada, and Utah. These Technical Assistance-linked awards will provide individualized assistance to eligible farm and food businesses to enhance viability and competitiveness within their local and regional food systems. Technical Assistance-linked awards will be offered on an annual or rolling basis, depending on the state, with awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
Competitive awards of up to $100,000 will be open to farms and food businesses with gross annual sales of less than $1 million. These awards will align with state-specific priorities, ranging from increasing production capacity for small and mid-sized producers to increasing the availability of infrastructure.
Across all pools of funding, the Southwest Regional Food Business Center will prioritize:
- Projects that benefit businesses located in a distressed or at-risk community
- Small farms and food businesses with gross annual sales less than $350,000 and mid-sized farms and food businesses with gross annual sales greater than $350,000 but less than $1 million.
Eligible entities include (but may not be limited to):
- Agricultural producers, growers, value-added producers
- Aggregator, distributor, processor, food hub
- Cooperative, non-profit organization
- Retailer, farmers market
Kelly is available to answer questions at [email protected]
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