USDA to Terminate Funding for Regional Food Business Center

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service announced its intent to terminate a national program to support the development of small farms, local food businesses, and regional food supply chains. The announcement ends funding for the Heartland Regional Food Business Center which operates in a five state region, including Nebraska, is one of 12 regional centers established in 2023 with funding from the USDA. The program was created as part of a national security effort to strengthen the nation’s food supply. The program provided seed funding for on-the-ground organizations to build stronger and ongoing support for local and regional farm and food businesses, including supply chain infrastructure, such as delivery logistics, food processing equipment, and financing.The Heartland Regional Food Business Center works across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and a designated tribal trade coalition. The Heartland Center is administered by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in cooperation with co-director New Growth and the Center’s Governance Council. The Heartland Center will continue normal operations until September 15, 2025, and prepare a plan to support 90 Business Builder grant awards after that date. A second round of Business Builder grant awards previously planned will not proceed.Nearly half of Heartland Center total funding ($25 million over four years) was dedicated to directly supporting business expansion projects among small food and farm businesses through Business Builder Subaward grants.The group of 90 round one finalists is just one-fifth of the 479 applications the Heartland Center received with requests totaling more than $20 million. Round one will provide $3.7 million for finalists’ projects. In Nebraska,16 finalists were awarded $659,890. Among them was West End Farm in Plymouth.The Heartland Center had expected as many as 1,000 applicants for its planned round two funding pool of $8.3 million. Responses“It is devastating that USDA seed funding for this regional effort to build small food and farm businesses and supply chains will end two years earlier than expected,” said Katie Nixon with rural Missouri New Growth MO Community Development and co-director of the Heartland Center. The Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA) is a Heartland Center key partner and CFRA staff member Kjersten Hyberger serves as secretary of the Governance Council. CFRA is one of 32 on-the-ground partner organizations that have assisted more than 2,500 food and farm enterprises so far through this program.“We’ve seen firsthand how transformational this funding has been for small farms and food businesses in our region,” Hyberger said. “While we are disappointed in the early end to this critical program, we remain committed to continuing this collaborative effort.”

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