Maine Agriculture, Food System and Forest Products Infrastructure Investment Fund (AFFPIF)

In acknowledgment of the growth potential and significant investment opportunity for Maine agriculture and forestry, Governor Janet T. Mills and the 130th Maine Legislature came together to support the creation of the Maine Agriculture, Food System and Forest Products Infrastructure Investment Fund. The Fund's goals are to:

• Strengthen Maine's agricultural, food, and forest products economy, prioritizing increased investments in historically marginalized, underrepresented, and underserved communities, including communities of color, low-income communities, and rural communities.

• Address barriers to capital access for businesses in these communities, helping them start, sustain, scale, and innovate.

• Expand investments in infrastructure to increase access to new markets and opportunities in production, processing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, marketing, sale, and consumption of products.

• Establish technical assistance programs in support of these goals in collaboration with other state agencies, economic development organizations, and key institutional partners.

Authorizing statutes: 7 M.R.S. section 320-A, 320-B, and 320-C. An Advisory Board (meeting roughly the last Wednesday of the month) is guiding the fund's development.

• Applicant must be an entity headquartered in Maine, unless the statute or a specific solicitation allows otherwise.

• Headquartered in Maine means the entity's primary office is in Maine and the address associated with its EIN or UEI is in Maine.

• For-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations and cooperatives may apply.

• Applicant must perform a primary business role in Maine's agricultural, food system or forest products economy.

• Eligible entity types include commercial farms, commercial harvesters, food processors and manufacturers, forest products producers and businesses, producers, and supply chain enterprises such as aggregators, processors and distributors.

• Applicant's activities must be commercially viable market-chain activities in agricultural production, food systems, forest products, infrastructure, supply chain distribution, or value-added processing or manufacturing.

• Each funding round's solicitation sets its own specific eligibility requirements, which may add to these fund-wide rules.

No award amounts are final, because DACF has not yet released a funding round. A first round is being prepared. The AFFPIF Advisory Board's August 26, 2026 meeting packet contains a draft Request for Applications for Round One Targeted Grants (RFA ARD.2026.AFFPIF1), with a board vote on the agenda so DACF could move toward release. The draft anticipates awarding up to $500,000 in total, in grants of $10,000 to $50,000 per recipient, to established, market-facing Maine businesses that have operated for at least 18 months. The draft is marked "NOT FINAL," its dates are left blank, and DACF says it will finalize the RFA and complete internal review before releasing it, so treat these figures as provisional.

Over the longer term, the Fund's Governance and Procedural Plan (June 17, 2026) allows grants with or without matching funds, capital-access, gap-financing and early-stage grants, and loans or other financing tools offered through financing partners. DACF will not lend directly. Each solicitation sets its own award limits, match rules, and conditions. Authorizing statutes are 7 M.R.S. §§320-A, 320-B and 320-C.

Do not budget against this yet. Subscribe to the DACF Ag Grants & Loans notification list to hear when Round One opens.

The fund is not yet accepting applications. To be notified when it launches, sign up for the DACF 'Agricultural Grants and Loans' news list: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MEDACF/subscriber/new?topic_id=MEDACF_36

A first round, Round One Targeted Grants, is being finalized. The draft Request for Applications in the Advisory Board's August 26, 2026 packet says applicants will submit an online application form on the program website and email supporting documents to the RFA coordinator, with the deadline in November 2026 and conditional awards expected in December 2026. Those dates are provisional until DACF releases the final RFA.