1. Food Business Center detail

A University of Idaho Extension-led team is seeking in-state applications for two USDA grants that support post-harvest work by small and mid-sized operations.

Business Builder grants are offered through the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center for business, market and supply-chain development projects. The center through Jan. 15 will accept applications for a total of $100,000 in grants for Idaho food and farm businesses, according to a UI news release.

Grants of $3,000 to $15,000 will be awarded to help Idaho recipients access markets within 450 air miles. Qualifying businesses must earn under $1 million in annual gross income. No matching funds are required.

“This is a really amazing opportunity for us to invest in Idaho businesses — both farm and food businesses that are doing work post-field and post-pasture — to get local Idaho-grown products into local and regional markets,” said Colette DePhelps, UI area extension educator focused on community food systems.

The center in about a year will accept a second round of Business Builder grant applications for a combined $120,000.

Separately, the center through March 1 will accept applications for a combined $120,000 in Diverse Markets for Climate Resilient Agriculture grants. Grants of $3,000 to $50,000 are available to farmers and food businesses throughout the center’s six-state territory.

Diverse Markets grants are available for grain, pulse and pseudocereal products segregated from general commodity markets to capitalize on a unique market trait, such as flavor profile or sustainable production practices used in cultivation, according to UI. Pseudocereals, such as quinoa and buckwheat, are not true seeds but are used like cereals in baking and cooking.

These market niches are “missing in our local and regional food system,” DePhelps said in the release. Diverse Markets grants can help support “some shelf-stable products that we rarely see within our local and regional markets but we’re so good at growing at all different scales.”

Applicants define what it means to be climate resilient in their operations, according to UI. Eliminating tillage, reducing reliance on chemical inputs, intercropping and planting cover crops are among practices cited.

“There is interest on both the consumer and producer side in local and regional markets and breaking away from international and large-scale commodity systems,” said Tayler Reinman, regional food system program manager for UI Extension’s northern district. “When we’re reliant on really large-scale, single-pathway food systems, if there’s a break in that system, then it creates a sense of food insecurity and makes it harder for us to access goods we need while also limiting market access and opportunities for producers to sell their crops.”

A second round of applications, for $200,000 in Diverse Markets grant funding combined, is planned in about a year, according to UI.

DePhelps and Reinman lead the Northwest and Rocky Mountain center’s Idaho operations. It is one of 12 USDA regional food business centers.