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Montana Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI)

Montana Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program

The Montana Department of Agriculture(MDA) has entered a $4.3 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service under the Resilient Food System Infrastructure (RFSI) program. Program funding is intended to unlock new market opportunities and facilitate important infrastructure projects for Montana agriculture. This is an exciting investment in food supply chain resilience and security, farm and food business market access, and value-added agriculture industry development.

The RFSI program will support middle of the supply chain projects that improve capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products.

RFSI will award competitive infrastructure grants for middle of the supply chain activities such as:

  • processing capacity expansion,
  • equipment and facilities modernization,
  • worker safety,
  • packaging and labeling, and
  • storage space

Montana agriculture industry partners and stakeholders are crucial to ensure RFSI delivers a significant impact for producers, businesses, consumers, and rural communities statewide. Stakeholders may include agricultural producers or processors, nonprofits, local and tribal governments, and institutions involved in middle of the supply chain activities.

RFSI may fund projects related to:

  • specialty crops,
  • dairy,
  • grains for human consumption,
  • aquaculture, and
  • other food products.

Projects related to meat and poultry are not allowable.

Public Input

Monday, July 31, 2023, 10 am MST

The listening call is an opportunity to hear from people across the Montana agricultural industry, what are believed to be the greatest challenges and needs facing the middle of the food supply chain, including infrastructure needs, food access barriers, and supply-chain needs. The information gained from this call will assist in developing the state plan for the RFSI Program.

Topic: RFSI Listening Session
Time: Jul 31, 2023 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

For more information on the RFSI Listening Session, please reach out at RFSI@mt.gov.

Written Comments

If you were not able to attend the listening session or would prefer to submit written comments you may do so in the linked survey form.

Funding Availability

Availability of funding is anticipated to be announced in late 2023