WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center (RFBC) are allocating $6.75 million to food and farm businesses under the Business Builder Subaward program.

The funding will be distributed on a rolling basis from 2024 to 2027 through 13 pools of competitive and non-competitive awards, reaching the states of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington and Wyoming.

The Northwest and Rocky Mountain RFBC is currently accepting applications from farm and food businesses in Colorado until Jan. 10, 2025. In this round, $200,000 will be made available in the form of 20 to 60 grants.

“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 Jenny Lester Moffitt, USDA under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs. “The 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.” 

Across the funding pools, Northwest and Rocky Mountain RFBC will prioritize small and mid-scale farms, ranches, seafood businesses, and value-added food businesses producing in, sourcing from, and focused on local and regional markets, as well as food processors, aggregators and distributors that source locally or regionally, serve multiple small and mid-scale food and farm businesses, and focus on local or regional markets.

Following the Colorado-focused funding pool, the center will accept applications from Idaho businesses. Additional pools of funding will be announced as they become available.