On Wednesday, September 29, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the award of $499 million in loans and grants to a variety of investments in rural community development across the nation.   A total of 280 projects in 44 states, as well as Guam and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, will receive funding.

These loans and grants are awarded annually by USDA’s Community Facilities Program, which finances crucial community facilities in rural areas in an effort to “improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers, and ranchers, and improve the quality of life in rural America.”

In this round of project grants, several projects related to local food and agricultural systems were awarded funding, such as:

• $100,000 to purchase two greenhouses for a community garden in Wrangel, Alaska;
• $250,000 to construct a nutrition center in Broseley, Missouri;
• $25,750 to renovate a food bank in Alamosa, Colorado;
• $11,250 to purchase equipment for a farmer’s market in St. Paul, Virginia; and
• a total of $301,412 to construct farmer’s markets in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Michigan.

More than $172 million of the total funding will be provided by through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with the rest coming from regular annual appropriations for the Community Facilities Program.

NSAC supports USDA’s continuing attention to the importance of developing local and regional food systems throughout the country through a variety of marketing, rural development, nutrition, conservation and related programs.

To read the full list of projects awarded grants, click here.