CT DoAg awards nearly $1.5 Million to projects that build resilience across middle of food supply chain

Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg) today announced that it has awarded $1,476,000 for 17 projects through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI), funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). These projects seek to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems.

“When we invest in the middle of the supply chain – things like local processing, storage, and distribution – we’re not just supporting farmers; we’re making it easier for families to access fresh, local food,” said Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt. “Strengthening these often-overlooked links builds a more resilient food system, one that can better withstand disruptions and keep healthy, affordable food flowing to communities statewide.”

This is the second round of grant funding to be awarded through the $2.1 million CT DoAg received in February 2024 to administer the program. Applicants could apply for equipment only grants or infrastructure grants with funds used to support expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture and other food products, excluding meat and poultry. The initial award round occurred in October 2024 with more than $670,000 awarded to fund three projects.

Equipment-Only Funded Projects

Infrastructure Grant Funded Projects

Culture Fresh Foods Inc, Naugatuck, to expand the company’s processing infrastructure to add dairy milk as a product through the purchase of a dairy safe warm milk separator and a dairy milk homogenizer.
Sustainable Planet LLC, DBA Healthy PlanEat, East Lyme, to improve the existing sales platform Healthy PlanEat to enable collaboration among at least six (6) food hubs serving Connecticut.
City Seed Inc, New Haven, to establish an aggregation and distribution center to serve Connecticut farmers and value-added food businesses.

This award round concludes the availability of grant funding through the RFSI program, but any agriculture producer is able to receive free business technical assistance through three contracted groups. More information can be found by visiting the agency’s website or by contacting Cyrena.Thibodeau@ct.gov for questions of how to enroll.

RFSI is federally funding through the United States Department of Agriculture authorized by section 1001(b)(4) of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 (Pub. L. 117— 2), as amended, and administered by the CT Department of Agriculture.

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CT DoAg awards nearly $1.5 Million to projects that build resilience across middle of food supply chain