First State Food System Grant Program

The First State Food System Program, funded by the Federal American Rescue Plan Act, is designed to support and strengthen Delaware's local food system. Its overarching mission, facilitated by the Delaware Department of Agriculture and the Delaware Council on Farm & Food Policy (Council), aligns with the goal of ensuring farmers have access to viable markets, households can access nutritious food, and the impacts of supply chain disruptions are reduced. The program aims to foster a resilient food system by offering grants to a diverse range of entities operating across the food supply chain within the State of Delaware. Target beneficiaries include entities that grow, process, store, transport, distribute, or sell food in Delaware, encompassing small to mid-sized for-profit producers, nonprofit organizations, aquaculture/fishery operators, food distributors, transporters, and food processing operators. The program's impact goals are centered on enabling these local entities to overcome challenges, build resilience, and contribute to a more robust food system. Specifically, it seeks to increase food production, enhance direct-to-consumer sales, improve food transformation activities, bolster transportation and distribution, and increase the flexibility of food retail outlets. The program prioritizes projects that support or benefit more than one entity or producer within Delaware’s food system. This focus is intended to strengthen the local food system through wide-reaching and complementary efforts rather than isolated, narrowly focused projects. Eligible projects are evaluated based on the entity's viability, its function and reach within the food system, and its capacity to add to food production, sales, processing, transportation, or distribution; improve efficiency and reduce costs; increase capacity of retail outlets; align with consumer needs; address proximity challenges; or increase emerging agricultural practices. Expected outcomes include a measurable positive impact on Delaware's food supply chain. Projects should create or contribute to outcomes such as increased volume of food production, greater availability of food products through various outlets, enhanced processing activities, more efficient transportation and distribution, improved capacity and flexibility of food retail outlets, and the adoption of innovative agricultural practices. The Council will award grants ranging from $2,500 to $150,000, and applicants must demonstrate the entity's infrastructure and capacity to successfully implement the project, with a general requirement for entities to be in operation for two or more years.