Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration Program

The purpose of this program is to establish and operate Agriculture Innovation Centers that provide technical assistance and services to agricultural producers to help them develop and market value-added agricultural products. Performance measures f

The program provides grants to Agricultural Innovation Centers that provide technical assistance and services to agricultural producers to help them develop and market value-added agricultural products.

Agricultural producers, farmers, ranchers, and other businesses that produce or market value-added agricultural products may apply for assistance directly from recipients.

Applicants must verify their legal status and demonstrate their eligibility for the program.

Award funds may be used only to provide the following services directly to agricultural producers for the purpose of producing and marketing a value-added agricultural product: Financial advisory services related to the development, expansion, or operation of a business owned by an agricultural producer(s) that will produce a value-added agricultural product, as long as the assistance is not to support forming a joint marketing effort by a group of producers, such as a farmers market, roadside stand, community-supported agriculture, and online sales Process development services, including: Engineering services, including scale-up of production systems (not to include cost of renovating or constructing a facility or system) Scale production assessments, defined as studies that analyze facilities, including processing facilities, for potential value-added activities to determine the size that optimizes construction and other cost efficiencies Systems development Other technical assistance and applied research related to development, implementation, improvement and operations of processes and systems to produce and market a value-added agricultural product Organizational assistance, including legal and technical advisory services related to the development, expansion, or operation of a business owned by an agricultural producer(s) that will produce a value-added agricultural product, as long as this assistance is not provided to support forming a joint marketing effort of food and food products by a group of producers, such as a farmers market, roadside stand, community-supported agriculture, and online sales Outreach assistance, limited to assistance with connecting an agricultural producer to a distribution system, processing facility, or commercial kitchen Technical assistance for product development (excluding R & D), where product development has the following definition: stages involved in bringing a product from idea or concept through commercial-scale production, including concept testing, feasibility and cost analysis, product taste-testing, demographic and other types of consumer analysis, production analysis, and evaluation of packaging and labeling options Costs associated with establishing and operating a Center, such as legal services, accounting services, clerical assistance, technical services, hiring employees, monitoring contracts, and Board of Director travel Grants of $5,000 or less to agricultural producers for the above services, where the aggregate amount of all such matching grants made by the Center does not exceed $50,000.

Funding is available until expended. Funds may be awarded for projects up to two years.

Applicants must submit an application through Grants.gov using the requirements published in a NOFO.

Applications will first be reviewed for eligibility for funding. Applications determined to be eligible will be evaluated based on the criteria published in the NOFO.

Applications will be ranked based on the points scored for the evaluation criteria. Applications will be funded in rank order until available funds are expended. Applications that cannot be fully funded may be offered partial funding at the Agency's discretion.