The Heartland Regional Food Business Center has selected 89 food and farm enterprises for $3.7 million in Round 1 funding through its USDA Business Builder Subaward grant program. Finalization of grant awards is currently on hold pending U.S. Secretary of Agriculture review of the RFBC program.
Two Heartland Regional Food Business Center clients from the greater Kansas City region teamed up to raise chickens. One is a farm. The other is a restaurant in need of a steady, local supply of eggs and steady, affordable prices.
The Heartland Regional Food Business Center’s team of 32 business support organizations have been busy since the program’s 2023 start. They have been serving clients across the region and working to build a strong and sustainable network dedicated to building the local and regional food economy.
The Lawrence, Kansas, school district’s new Community Connections Bakery will source 51 percent of its grains from local farmers. It will produce whole grain baked goods for school meals serving some 10,000 K-12 students.
Round 1 of the Heartland Center’s Business Builder grant program received funding requests from 479 applicants totaling $20,021,077, with an average request of $41,798.
The Turtle Island Trade Coalition is an Indigenous-created and Indigenous-led program embedded within the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), established specifically to develop a Great Plains Indigenous food hub and restore historical trade relationships.
Heartland Center collaborator Springfield Community Gardens brought together industry experts for a two-part webinar series on expanding to institutional sales.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Heartland Regional Food Business Center (RFBC) today announced the availability of over $3.7 million in Business Builder Grants to support small, mid-sized, and diverse food and farm entrepreneurs. … Continued
The Heartland Regional Food Business Center will soon open its Business Builder Subaward grant program for applications. This article reviews types of applicants and projects.
Sergio Sosa works through the Heartland Center to help Maya refugees build food businesses and connect with local and regional markets. He is the Indigenous Food and Business Manager at Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim.