Connecticut Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI)

Connecticut's Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI), funded through a USDA Agricultural Marketing Service cooperative agreement, provided competitive grants to build resilience across the middle of the food supply chain. Funds supported expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products, excluding meat and poultry.

Entities involved in middle-of-the-supply-chain activities (aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution) for locally and regionally produced food products, excluding meat and poultry.

Matching funds were required. Administered by CT DoAg under a USDA AMS RFSI cooperative agreement; two rounds were run (FY2024 and FY2025).

The most recent round (Second Round of Funding, FY2025) opened February 21, 2025, with an application deadline of April 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM. The application is now closed and the program will not be providing another round of funding. Connecticut awarded more than $2.1 million in competitive grant funding across the program. Free business technical assistance remains available to agricultural producers through three contracted groups.