Meet the Center Focused on Providing Tailored Assistance to Small & Underserved Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Businesses
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has historically catered to large-scale agricultural operations, and in response to the continued rapid decline of small and mid-sized agriculture businesses , a new effort is rolling out that is focused on supporting small producers and food businesses.
Does this sound like you? Are you a small-scale farmer or young food business looking for support to help grow your business? Do you need help developing a business plan, accessing markets for your products, or best marketing your business? Are you wanting to find ways to increase your revenues, collaborate with other businesses in the state, or partner with technical assistance providers? The Southwest Regional Food Business Center is designed with those needs in mind.
In collaboration with the USDA, the free services offered through this virtual Center will support small and underserved producers in different regions throughout the country by providing tailored assistance specific to each region’s needs. Services include access to local and regional supply chains, such as linking agricultural producers to wholesalers, distributors, and institutions. Food and farming businesses will be able to take advantage of practical and useful resources, upcoming funding opportunities, and local and regional network partners. Read on to learn more about how the Center can benefit your business and the Arizona food system.
Why a Regional Food Business Center?
Starting a farm operation or food business can be exciting but also overwhelming. From knowing which type of business entity best fits your goals to knowing where to find startup and operating capital, the process can seem like a winding road. The Southwest Regional Food Business Center was developed to create a more clear path with technical assistance providers and services to help guide the way.
The Southwest Regional Food Business Center is part of the USDA’s network of 12 Regional Food Business Centers to support a more resilient, diverse, and collaborative food system. The Center’s mission is to improve opportunities for food and farm businesses across Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah and serve as a regional hub.
Local First Arizona, along with the Arizona Department of Agriculture and University of Arizona, are serving as Arizona partners on the regional hub, which will engage with a diverse network of partners to develop and implement strategic and funding opportunities to build capacity to serve the Southwest region’s underserved communities and businesses.
How the Southwest Regional Food Business Center Works
The Center’s three pillars of service are coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building:
Coordination
The Center supports cross-regional collaboration and serves as a liaison for USDA programs and other third-party funding opportunities, with a focus on underserved farmers, ranchers, and food businesses. It coordinates with other federal, state, colonias, and tribal agencies and serves as a regional hub for sharing best practices and relevant resources.
Technical Assistance
The Center provides technical assistance directly to small-and mid-sized food and farm businesses, as well as food value and supply chain coordination. It will identify priority areas for technical assistance through the Center's Business Builder workgroup.
Capacity Building
The Center provides financial assistance through Business BuilderGrants to support projects focused on regional needs and businesses that are looking to expand. Grant funding can support staff time, business planning activities, software implementations, purchasing special-purpose equipment such as food safety, processing and packaging equipment, value chain coordination, and other eligible expenses.
Plus, the Center can help producers and food businesses navigate the agricultural landscape, such as by helping to obtain a Farm Service Agency number or learning what programs and grants your business is eligible for. It will pool resources from different local, regional, and federal sources together into one spot to save valuable time for busy business owners. At the same time, you can receive personal feedback from technical assistance providers that can help you build a stronger farm or food business.
By working alongside underserved farming, ranching, and food businesses, the online Center will collect feedback for ways to bring more resources to areas that are identified as needing more investment. By helping to design USDA and other programs to better serve small-scale producers and food business, the Center will work to build a more localized and regionalized community-based food system.
What Services are Offered?
Financial literacy, bookkeeping, and accounting support
Business plan development
Access to local and regional markets
Marketing your business and social media tips
Educational workshops, webinars and resources
Funding Opportunities
Grant writing assistance
Farm to institution development
Guidance on value-added products and processing
How to Access the Southwest Regional Food Business Center
The Center can be reached by completing this brief form.
As the Center’s full range of services are being built out, explore the many useful resources that are already available online. Browse the website to learn about upcoming events, such as beginning farmer and rancher workshops, classes on making valued-added products like cheese and yogurts, and engage with the food and agriculture community through upcoming conferences. Make sure to subscribe to the newsletter to find out when new funding opportunities and free technical assistance programs begin rolling out. Grow your business and build resilience by getting involved with the Southwest Regional Food Business Center.
To Learn More & Get Involved:
Subscribe to the Southwest Regional Food Business Center newsletter to receive useful updates and announcements (scroll to the bottom of the webpage)
Explore the Center’s online resources
Attend agriculture & food related events, trainings, educational workshops, and conferences in your area
Contact the Southwest Regional Food Business Center
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