News

Potential return of RFSI funding

The director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture says the USDA’s currently frozen Resilient Food System Infrastructure (RFSI) grant program may be returning.

“In communications with USDA, we are being told that it in fact may be turned back on.”

Jerry Costello says reinstatement of the program would mean over $6 million dollars to boost the local food system in his state alone.

“This grant is for the middle of the food supply chain, so after harvest, but before retail sales.”  He says, “A refrigerated truck or refrigerated trailer because those are the things that we’re hearing are most in need.”

However, he tells Brownfield that even if the reimbursement program is unfrozen it’ll likely still carry uncertainty.

“Obviously,” he says, “a scenario where people are going to have a question in the back of their mind, ‘Should I spend these monies and count on the federal government for this reimbursement?’”

No official change in the program’s status has been announced by the USDA.  In total, the RFSI program was allocated by Congress to disperse up to $420 million in American Rescue Plan funding to strengthen the U.S. food supply chain across 56 states and territories.

AUDIO: Jerry Costello – Director of Illinois Department of Agriculture