WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced two cooperative agreements under the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) on April 15, one with North Carolina and one with Puerto Rico.

Together, the USDA and North Carolina are looking to offer over $6.2 million in competitive grant funding for projects that will build resilience across the middle of the supply chain.

“This partnership between USDA and North Carolina is allowing critical funding to reach areas of the supply chain that need it most,” said Jenny Lester Moffitt, USDA marketing and regulatory programs under secretary. “The projects funded through this program will create new opportunities for the region’s small and midsize producers to thrive, expand access to nutritious food options and increase supply chain resiliency.”

Targeted projects include expansion of on-farm cold storage and packaging capacity, implementation of post-harvest handling, refrigerated trucks and expansion of aggregator facilities.

North Carolina is accepting applications for grant funding from May 1 through June 15. AMS encourages applications that serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, underserved producers, veteran producers, and underserved communities.

Also utilizing RFSI funds, the cooperative agreement between the USDA and Puerto Rico looks to provide more than $3.5 million in competitive grant funding for similar projects that build supply chain resilience.

The Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture will use the RFSI funds to bolster the island’s agricultural infrastructure with an emphasis on establishing advanced industrial processing facilities. The department will fund projects that expand processing capacity, support new wholesale product lines, increase packaging and labeling capacities, increase cold storage, and purchase specialized equipment and delivery vehicles.

Puerto Rico is accepting applications for grant funding through June 30.