The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced May 3 it will be creating 12 new USDA Regional Food Business Centers to provide coordination, assistance and capacity building to American farmers, ranchers and other food businesses so that they can navigate new markets at the federal, state and local levels. Additionally, the USDA said it would be launching a $420 million Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Program to fund projects that will build resilience across food supply chains, strengthening local and regional food systems.

Through the RFSI Program, the USDA will work with funding recipients to launch projects that will expand organizations' abilities to collect, process, manufacture, store, transport, wholesale and distribute food products. Some eligible entitles include agricultural producers/processors, non-profits, local government agencies, tribal governments and institutions like schools, universities or hospitals.

The lead organizations for the USDA Regional Food Business Centers are:

• Appalachia USDA Regional Food Business Center, Rural Action Inc.
• Delta USDA Regional Food Business Center, Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworker Opportunities
• Great Lakes Midwest USDA Regional Food Business Center, Michigan State University
• Heartland USDA Regional Food Business Center, University of Nebraska
• National Intertribal Food Business Center, Intertribal Agriculture Council
• Island and Remote Areas USDA Regional Food Business Center, Hawaii Good Food Alliance
• North Central USDA Regional Food Business Center, Region Five Development Commission
• Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center, NASDA Foundation
• Northwest and Rocky Mountain USDA Regional Food Business Center, Colorado State University
• Rio Grande Colonias USDA Regional Food Business Center, Texas A&M AgriLife
• Southeast USDA Regional Food Business Center, Georgia Minority Outreach Network
• Southwest USDA Regional Food Business Center, University of California

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to transforming our food system to one that offers new market opportunities to small and mid-sized farming operations through a strengthened local and regional food system,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The Regional Food Business Centers, along with investments through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, will create new and expanded local market opportunities which will improve farm income, create good paying jobs and build greater resilience in our overall food system.”

In September 2022, the USDA launched a $400 million fund to support the Regional Food Business Centers initiative as a way to help local and regional producers by providing localized assistance to access numerous markets. The selected organizations will work with grassroots food and farm entities to develop strategies for regional food resilience systems.