North Central Regional Food Business Center
The North Central Regional Food Business Center (NC-RFBC) is a collaboration of stakeholders in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota who are working to build capacity and resiliency in the food value chain, including small and mid-sized producers, processors, aggregators, distributors, and food access points that sell into all types of markets (fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, grains, and dairy) within local and regional markets.
Our region will receive 15 million dollars over the next 5 years to provide support in these areas. For SDSPA members, this will mean opportunities arising in South Dakota related to supply chain coordination and technical assistance. As a technical assistance provider in this project, SDSPA will support specialty crop growers looking for more information and resources to help them reach their goals. One way this will be done is through one on one farm visits from an experienced grower, that producers can elect to participate in at no cost to them. The goal is to gain feedback on producer needs, gaps and what’s working well. The SDSPA representative will offer assistance and resources that can help producers improve their operations and reach their goals.
SDSPA can also guide access to funding, including the Business Builder subaward grants intended to provide food and farm businesses with up to $50,000 in capital needed to launch and expand their business.
As a member benefit, spots for this will be available first to SDSPA members, and so we encourage you to sign up here. Watch for additional opportunities applicable to all SDSPA members that will be coming through the NC-RFBC funds.
NC-RFBC Sign-up