Call for Applications: Business Builder Subaward Grant Program (US)

The Heartland Center is one of 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers in the country. Centers are tasked with building food supply chain resilience through development support for small, mid-size, and diverse food and farm businesses.

BB Subawards will go to projects predominantly aimed at starting or expanding food businesses in the region through value-added opportunities, diversification of on-farm activities, expansion of and/or access to new markets, and/or innovations to generate income. BB Subawards will provide food and farm businesses with the capital needed to launch and expand their businesses while they work to build income streams or identify needed investors.

Funding Information

• Maximum award: $50,000
• Minimum award: $5,000
• Duration: Projects should be completed within 12 months of award date.
• Anticipated award date: 90 days after applications due

Eligible Activities 

• Eligible project activities include but are not limited to:
  • Business planning, feasibility studies, preparing loan applications.
  • Local food aggregation and distribution or food hub development.
  • Developing brand and marketing materials, including websites.
  • Market analysis, brokering services, and outreach to potential customers.
  • Marketing materials and supplies, and attendance at trade shows focused on local or regional markets.
  • Developing new products, labels, or packaging, including testing new formulations or recipes.
  • Improving processing, marketing, and distribution.
  • Legal support for business resilience, market risk management, and growth.
  • Training in food safety planning compliance for owners and/or employees.
  • Worker safety improvements, such as training staff, purchasing safety equipment.
  • Creating or expanding a farm stand, U-Pick, CSA, or other farm-direct sales platform.

Ineligible Activities 

• Ineligible activities include those that:
  • Are primarily for production-related expenses, such as farming guidance and production inputs (seeds, fertilizer, or ingredients for a value-added product).
  • Are related to meat and poultry slaughter and initial processing (value-added products beyond boxed meat, such as pemmican, jerkies, stews, and ready-to-eat meals are allowable.)
  • Are related to construction or purchasing land.
  • Depend upon the completion of another project or the receipt of another grant.
  • Duplicate activities in a project that has received a federal award from another federal program.

Eligibility Criteria

• Small businesses and nonprofit organizations located in or serving some or all of the five-state Heartland Center region (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska) and its nine counties in northwest Arkansas (Benton, Carrol, Boone, Washington, Madison, Newton, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson).
• Applicant businesses must qualify as “small,” defined as a business with fewer than 50 employees and less than $3 million in gross annual revenues. There is no size requirement for nonprofit organizations unless the project concerns a revenue-earning business enterprise, which must conform to the small business definition.
• Nonprofits, or their fiscal sponsors, must have 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or 501(c)(6) status.

For more information, visit Heartland Food Business Center.