Wholesale Farmers and Alternative Market Development

Wholesale Farmers and Alternative Market Development works to improve market access for producers and develop new markets. This work ensures that opportunities for U.S. food producers are readily available and communities are equipped to successfully

Wholesale Farmers and Alternative Market Development generate actionable insights and accessible tools supporting farmers and food businesses as they establish and scale operations in domestic, high-value markets for local and regional foods. The research improves the viability, profitability, and future market opportunities for American farmers and food producers. The Wholesale Market and Facility Design team provides technical assistance and support to stakeholders regarding the construction of new structures or the remodeling of existing ones. These facilities include wholesale markets, farmers markets, public markets, incubator kitchens, and food hubs, all of which are important parts of the national food distribution network. The facilities may be indoors or outdoors, a single building or an industrial complex.

Producers, processors, marketing agencies, and general public.

Assistance provided in cooperation with other government agencies and private industry to reduce marketing costs, provide technical assistance to States and municipalities interested in creating or upgrading markets and marketing facilities.

Funds may not be use for the purchase of land, construction or rehabilitation of a building or structure.

Preapplication coordination is required. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance, if the State has selected the program for review.

Contact Deputy Administrator, Transportation and Marketing Programs, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA. The standard application forms as furnished by the Federal agency must be used for this program.

AMS outlines the application requirements and merit review process in each grant program's RFA. Applicants are required to use the RFA to apply for grant funds. After the application deadline has passed, AMS begins a three-step process to evaluate each application submitted to the grant program and select applications for funding. Grant agreements are established with applicants based on the results of this three-step process to ensure compliance with requirement that Federal awarding agencies maintain a fair, unbiased merit review process in selecting competitively awarded grants. The Initial Qualification Screening is Step 1. In this step, each application is reviewed for overall completeness, as well as compliance with eligibility and program requirements as set forth in the RFA. Applications that met these basic requirements moved forward to Step 2. Step 2 is the Technical Review. Applications are evaluated by panels of external peer reviewers. Selected reviewers have diverse expertise representing various entities with programmatic knowledge. To eliminate bias, AMS assigns applications to reviewers outside of their own geographic areas and avoid project assignments associated with reviewer businesses. Each reviewer also signs a conflict of interest and confidentiality agreement. Reviewers that indicate a real or perceived conflict do not review the affected application(s) and are removed from those application discussions. The panels analyze each application using the RFA's evaluation criteria and instructions prepared by AMS. Individual reviewers evaluate and score their assigned applications and then confer with their team to derive a consensus review. The consensus review serves as the basis for awarding grant funds and focuses on the applications' strengths and weaknesses. The third step is the Administrative Review (Step 3).

Please refer to https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/policies-procedures