Would your community like to incentivize a new craft beverage business to fill a vacant storefront, much like what Westmoreland County did to recruit a new brewery and pub to downtown Montross?

Or how about investing in needed improvements to your farmers market, like the City of Martinsville’s upgrades to the Uptown Martinsville Farmers Market, purchasing shades to protect produce and vendors from the elements and new commercial grade scales to speed transactions?

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) is now accepting applications for grants of up to $50,000 from the AFID Infrastructure Grant Program to support local food and farming infrastructure.  The application period runs from October 1 until November 15, 2022 with awards announced in December. 

Applications are made by political subdivisions of the Commonwealth (cities, counties, EDAs/IDAs, etc.) and require matching funds.  These reimbursable grants are for capital projects at new and existing food hubs, farmers markets, commercial kitchens, and other value-added facilities such as those used for processing and packaging meats, dairy products, produce, or other Virginia-grown products.

Localities interested in pursuing an award are encouraged to email a draft grant application or just a summary of their project idea to Stephen Versen, Manager, Office of Agriculture and Forestry Development, for review and to arrange a time to discuss the project further.   

Descriptions of previous recipients of these competitively awarded grants can be found here. 

Program guidelines, application and other program documents can be found here.