Interested in a Northeast Regional Food Business Center (NERFBC) grant?

Learn about the NERFBC, its funding opportunities, and what it means to be an NERFBC grantee through this online course. Originally developed for current grantees, the course is now open to food producers and technical assistance providers interested in applying for an NERFBC grant.

Please note that NERFBC grantees are required to complete this course through Canvas@Cornell. For questions about accessing the course through Canvas, contact [email protected].

Video Transcripts

Overview

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established 12 Regional Food Business Centers across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of addressing issues in the food system. Learn more about the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center initiative and how your business fits into your local food system.

Transcript

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Janna Spruill, Associate Director, NASDA Foundation Programs.]

In becoming a subawardee of the Northeast Regional Food Business Center, you are joining a nationwide network of producers, food business owners, food system professionals, community-based organizations, and government leaders. Let’s first take a step back to understand why the Regional Food Business Center was created and how your subaward fits in with ongoing food system resilience projects taking place from Maryland to Maine and across the country in 2023. The USDA’s agricultural marketing service established 12 regional food business centers, each formed with the mission of responding to cracks in the food system that were identified or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rather than being brick and mortar, these centers operate through virtual connections, grant programs, in-person conference networking, learning modules, social media, and other accessible channels to make sure that everyone in the region has an equitable opportunity at benefitting from our resources, regardless of geographic barriers. The Northeast Center, which received $30 million in funding, extends from Washington DC and Maryland, all the way up to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. To collaboratively lead the center, the USDA selected the NASDA Foundation, Buffalo Go Green, Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.

The Northeast Center, along with the other 11 centers around the country, have three main responsibilities. First, our goal is to serve as a regional hub to support coordination across geographic areas, stakeholder groups, and various levels of government, with a specific focus on outreach toward underserved communities and businesses. Second, we offer awards to technical assistance providers, who will then help small and mid-sized food and farm businesses navigate a variety of challenges and expansion opportunities, from legal support to helping business owners connect to new buyers and more. Third, we are investing directly in food and farming communities by offering business builder subawards. These projects, which are funded up to $100,000, will help the Northeast region become more resilient, equitable, inclusive, economically competitive, and supportive of small and mid-sized enterprises.

It is important to recognize that our center represents a region that is incredibly unique with its many urban centers, its racial and cultural diversity, and its agricultural output. To best serve the complexity in needs and priorities for the region, the center leads formed a governance structure that is intended to work collaboratively and include diverse voices from a wide range of states, agricultural sectors, and BIPOC communities. Our structure includes a DEI advisory council, a strategic stakeholder group, a state council, which is made up of representatives of state departments of agriculture and a community advisory council, which consists of regional farming and food business experts.

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Overview:

Learn how the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center’s grants fit in with other federal funding programs and how these programs work together to maximize benefits for food producers and the communities they serve.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Janna Spruill, Associate Director, NASDA Foundation Programs.]

From the federal government to state agencies and philanthropic organizations, there has been an unprecedented mobilization of funds and initiatives to bolster the capacity of the agricultural sector and to support greater market competitiveness for small and mid-sized producers. In other words, the Northeast Regional Food Business Center is one of many grant programs that you may see interacting in your community. To help sort out where this program and your award fits in alongside other federal programs, USDA has created a system to categorize grants by where they stand along the supply chain.

While some programs intersect at various points of the supply chain, they tend to fit in under either land conservation, production, processing, aggregation and distribution, or markets and consumers. So why is this information helpful to know? Let’s say you’re a food business that’s using this award to support product development or storage and transportation.

Now, let’s say that your local or state school districts have recently been awarded a farm to school grant, which helps start, expand, and institutionalize farm to school efforts. That means that you may have found a new, reliable buyer, whose demand can keep up with your increasing product supply. Even within the Northeast Regional Food Business Center, our funding streams are designed to work with one another to exponentialize these benefits for you, your fellow awardees, and the communities that you serve.

Let’s start with a quick introduction to our two funding streams. The first funding stream that we released is for technical assistance (TA) provider awards. $6.3 million will fund TA providers, who offer guidance and training to farm and food businesses in the Northeast. These providers have a unique understanding of the region’s needs, along with a strong track record in providing services and training to producers, with everything from planning and financial literacy to regulatory awareness and record keeping. The second funding stream is for business builder awards. These sub awards provide direct financial assistance of up to $100,000 for small and mid-sized food and farm businesses that can benefit from increased support in access to capital, supply chain coordination, and other barriers to expansion. Funding for this award is intended to help expand market opportunities, support product diversification, and secure stronger business sustainability. We released applications for TA provider awards first, so that potential business builder award applicants and awardees, as well as all farm and food businesses operating in the region can benefit from the improved or expanded resources available to them from the TA provider awardees.

We also have tailored our funding priorities and selection criteria with underserved groups in mind, leveraging data sets and interviews with producers, regional experts, and policymakers to ensure that we’re best filling in any gaps in the Northeast when it comes to technical assistance coverage and other infrastructure that supports small business expansion.

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Key Resources

Explore the following websites that provide more info about the Regional Food Business Centers in general and the Northeast Center specifically.

USDA Regional Food Business Centers Program

Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center

Overview:

Learn how the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center’s funding streams will impact economic development in the Northeast and how that impact will be measured.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Allison DeHonney, CEO and Executive Director, Buffalo Go Green.]

Here, I want to discuss how both the technical assistance provider and the business builder awards will play a pivotal role in fostering economic development in the northeast region.

Technical assistance providers serve as critical resources for farmers and food businesses or organizations in navigating the complexities of an ever-shifting climate, global marketplace, and consumer base. The regional food business center’s TA provider award allocates funding to these organizations to better facilitate the delivery of their services and support producers in adopting sustainable practices, improving productivity, and capitalizing on evolving market opportunities. In the northeast region, where small-scale farming makes up a significant portion of agricultural operations, TA providers play a particularly important role in helping producers overcome barriers in budgeting and finance, marketing, and creating and sustaining strong internal infrastructures.

Through advising on everything from succession planning, combating pests and diseases, and mitigating the impact of climate change on farms, these organizations are also empowering small and mid-sized businesses or organizations to achieve long-term sustainability, one of the core tenants of the regional food business center’s objectives. In addition to supporting TA providers, our center is mobilizing investment directly into the hands of small- to mid-sized food and farming businesses or organizations. These grants provide capital for businesses or organizations to improve operations at the beginning and end of the supply chain, and funding can be used for a wide range of activities including value-added product development, supply chain innovation, marketing, and other business expenses.

These funds are intended to provide the resources necessary to help producers and food entrepreneurs both expand their operations and structure their business models to better withstand market obstacles that may arise in the future. We also know that the benefits of these grants won’t stop at just the awarded businesses or organizations. The success of farming and food enterprises extends to their broader community through job creation, consumer access to healthier local food, and increased demand at the food processing and distribution segments of the supply chain.

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Overview:

Reporting on grant-based outcomes is not just a bureaucratic requirement but also a valuable tool for learning and improvement. Learn how that impact is measured.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Allison DeHonney, CEO and Executive Director, Buffalo Go Green.]

How do we measure your grant’s impact? Reporting on your grant-based outcomes is not just a bureaucratic requirement, but a valuable tool for learning and improvement. By sharing your successes, challenges, and lessons learned, you’re helping us identify best practices and how to maximize the impact of future grants.

Your insights are also critical in guiding our collaboration with other federal and state programs. Programs like ours use information from past awardees to determine everything from how much funding each awardee should be allotted to where to prioritize funding and what partnerships new grantees can form with former awardees. Current and historical data have proven that industries with individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives are essential for growth and success.

Our center strives to provide the tools necessary to remove or mitigate the barriers of starting and bolstering small to mid-size farming and food businesses or organizations. We do this by recognizing that equity is not a handout, but a hand up for past exclusion and inequities towards communities of color. The Northeast Regional Food Business Center has five objectives:

  • One, coordinate a regional network of Northeast system partners and connect with other regional food business centers nationwide.
  • Two, increase the amount of diversity of regionally grown products and food businesses by providing technical assistance and financial support.
  • Three, increase the capacity of the regional supply chain to identify, procure, aggregate, market, and distribute products to major Northeast markets.
  • Four, build sustainability into the regional food business center activities to ensure continued growth and resiliency.
  • And five, meaningfully integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout all Northeast regional food business center programs and activities.

Successfully meeting all five objectives through equitable distribution of technical assistance and business builder awards will strengthen local economies in our sectors of influence.

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Overview:

The NASDA Foundation is responsible for administering the subaward agreement for all Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center grants. These agreements outline the intended use of the funds, reporting requirements and deadlines, and other important conditions. This video provides a summary of these grantee requirements that is helpful to review before applying for a grant.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Janna Spruill, Associate Director, NASDA Foundation Programs.]

Congratulations, your proposal for funding from the Northeast Regional Food Business Center has been approved. Now, we need to go over funding requirements. The NASDA Foundation serves as the administrative and fiduciary lead of the Northeast Center. The Foundation team will send you a subaward agreement detailing the funding term dates, your proposed scope of work, the reimbursement schedule, as well as other legal necessities for which USDA holds us accountable. The authorized official indicated in your application will be responsible for signing the agreement. The agreement will be sent electronically through DocuSign. A direct deposit form in W-9 will be sent to you by email. These forms will need to be completed and returned within seven days to set up your business or organization in our accounts payable system. Without these documents being completed, subawardees cannot receive payment.

Project reporting is required every six months as a stipulation of the subaward agreement. Again, USDA holds the Center accountable for the activities and funds distributed. And we also have to report on activities. Your reporting allows the Center to share with USDA the progress and/or the challenges within the regional food system. All reporting will be submitted through Fluxx, the grant management portal you used during the application process.

The Center would like to meet with subawardees on a regularly scheduled basis; monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly to address any needs or concerns with funding, the process, reporting, or Fluxx. We will determine the virtual meeting schedule once awards have been deployed. And we’ll make adjustments as needed. Attendance for these meetings will be required.

Invoices and reimbursement requests will be submitted through Fluxx. In order to receive reimbursement, a complete invoice detailing activities completed will be required. The NASDA Foundation team will review, and if no follow-up is needed, approve payment.

USDA has very specific allowable and eligible uses of funds, especially for equipment. Awardees are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations, as stipulated in the subaward agreement. Compliance of eligible expenses will be determined during the expense review. The center will provide all documentation from USDA, as well as updates if changes occur. Reimbursement will be issued within 10 to 15 business days.

[The end screen with the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center’s logo slides in from the left.]

Overview:

Learn more about the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center’s grant management system, Fluxx. Grantees use Fluxx to complete all necessary tasks associated with the grant funding.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Janna Spruill, Associate Director, NASDA Foundation Programs.]

You have already been exposed to Fluxx, our grant management system, when you submitted your application. You will access the Fluxx portal to complete all subaward tasks, including reporting, submitting invoices, and reimbursement requests, reviewing previously submitted applications, including budgetary information, and accessing funding award letters. Essentially, it will be your one-stop shop for grant management. We have the ability to email you through Fluxx with reminders and requests for updates. For specific how-to videos to use the Fluxx portal, visit the center website: https://www.nasda.org/nasda-foundation/northeast-regional-food-business-center/.

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Overview:

Grantees diligent work and adherence to grant obligations drive the success of the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center initiative, focusing on timely deliverables, accurate budget tracking, and clear and effective communication. This video explores these criteria to help prepare grantees for success.

Transcript:

[The Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center logo sits in the lower right-hand corner on a white background. The slide swipes to the left, showing Allison DeHonney, CEO and Executive Director, Buffalo Go Green.]

As you join this exciting initiative to expand economic opportunities in the Northeast local and regional food systems, it’s important to recognize that the success of the program relies on your diligent work and fulfilling the grant obligations set out in the subaward agreement to make this process as accessible and efficient as possible. Let’s explore how you can best set yourself up for success.

First, meeting deliverables in a timely fashion as an awardee is central to the center’s team being able to disburse funds to your business on time. This includes completing the sub award agreement promptly, submitting comprehensive and accurate grant reports, and fulfilling additional requirements that have been outlined in the grant agreement. We have set up a system that will assist you in successfully meeting these deliverables.

Second, tracking your budget and expenses is another important component to your project success. And it not only facilitates the center’s administrative work but also helps you to maximize the impact of expenses, make sure that you are periodically referring to the program and budgetary guidelines to confirm that expenditures are always in alignment with what was set out in your budget proposal. If you have any questions about allowable expenses, please reach out to the center’s team, and we’re happy to assist.

Third, clear and effective communication can help you best share your project’s goals, progress, and ultimate achievements. As you complete progress reports, be sure to accurately capture any challenges that your project is facing, any updates or changes to your original budget or project proposal. If there are any connections your business is making to other organizations in the region or your community, these should be communicated to the center’s team.

We do understand that implementation in the field can sometimes differ from written plans. So please know that the center is here to provide assistance. This will not only best help our center share your successes with other networks and increase awareness of your business, but it will also help set you up for smooth and efficient process should you receive any future grants or loans.

Building your knowledge while interacting with our grant management software and tools will also come in handy, as you apply for and are awarded other grants and funding in the future. Take notes. Ask questions. And review any follow-up communication that our team sends you, as you go through the process.

[The end screen with the Northeast USDA Regional Food Business Center’s logo slides in from the left.]