USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager today announced $8.3 million in grants through the Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) program to help rural cooperatives expand economic activity in their communities.

Grantees included NSAC member organization Farm to Table, Inc., of Santa Fe, NM, which received a grant for a project to improve economic conditions in rural New Mexico. It will collaborate with New Mexico’s oldest member-owned cooperative, La Montanita, on a best practices curriculum for food system cooperative development, and on a new loan investment initiative for food systems businesses.

Other grant funds will provide small and minority farmers with development assistance, develop new cooperatives, promote community-supported agriculture, strengthen the marketing of small farm production, and develop systems to link growers with regional consumers.