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U.S. Department of Commerce officials have announced the allocation of $12.2 million to address fishery resource disasters in Alaska and Washington State through the Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. The funding will assist with the recovery of salmon fisheries in communities across Alaska and Puget Sound by bolstering fisheries restoration efforts, minimizing the risk of future disasters, and helping build back stronger.

Rural Development Partners invested $15 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing to help Food Bank of the Rockies expand their distribution center to Aurora, Colorado. Without NMTCs, the expansion would be significantly delayed or scaled back, limiting the ability to address food insecurity. The facility will support 179 full-time jobs, increase farmer sourcing, expand rural outreach, and quadruple the capacity for volunteer operations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Reinvestment Fund are launching a new program under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) with funding from President Biden's American Rescue Plan Act. Through the new Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund (FARE Fund), USDA and the Reinvestment Fund are making available $60 million in loans, grants, and technical assistance for food retail and food retail supply chain projects that increase access to healthy food in communities underserved by grocery stores.

Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) Foundation completed its first Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP) loan in May. The MPILP loan went to Morgan's Meat Market of Waseca to finish processing facility expansion. MFU Foundation has $900,000 in revolving loan funds to distribute to support small and medium-sized meat and poultry processors through the MPILP. 

Proofing Station, an impact-first charitable investment fund, providing capital access to small- and mid-sized entities in the food and agriculture supply chain, announces a $450,000 equity investment in Iya Foods, a Black- and woman-owned facility, which produces gluten-free, allergen-friendly food in Naperville, IL. This funding allows Iya Foods to expand its labor force and business operations, after moving into a new 37,000-square-foot facility in 2023.

Aemetis closed its second $25 million, 20-year term loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a total of $50 million in biogas project financing arranged by Greater Commercial Lending. Biogas Central Dairy RNG Project is now fully funded to build biogas digesters and related assets for eight additional dairies using $9.4 million of equity financing already provided by the company and the $25 million of new debt financing guaranteed by the USDA.

Montgomery County is significantly bolstering its local food assistance network with a new partnership that will allocate over $350,000 to 14 nonprofit organizations and local farms. The Office of Food Systems Resilience, Manna Food Center, and the Morningstar Foundation have awarded funds to enhance cold storage infrastructure, ensuring the safe storage and distribution of locally grown and recovered food.

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Navigating ESG in the Bond Market
July 16, 2024 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern

2024 CDFA Equitable Lending Learning Series: Strategic Partnerships for Sharing Financial Risk
July 23, 2024 - 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern

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Production methods such as regenerative agriculture are associated with climate adaptation and resilience. Such methods offer the best path forward to preserving long-term viability of an industry that is foundational to basic societal needs. From a financier's perspective, regenerative agriculture provides a way to maintain the commercial opportunity in agriculture via adaptation to changing climate conditions. By investing in regenerative agriculture now, financiers can proactively adapt food and agricultural value chain investments to changing climate conditions and take advantage of potential opportunities in transition investing.

The Strategy will help the U.S. meet its National Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal, to halve food loss and waste by 2030 and contribute to achieving the National Recycling Goal to achieve a 50% recycling rate by 2030, as well as contribute to the global achievement of the United Nations SDG Target. These efforts are part of the Administration's whole-of-government methane strategy—including actions to cut emissions from landfills and food waste, agriculture, the oil and gas sector, abandoned mines, and other major sources, while improving measurement and monitoring—to fulfill the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce anthropogenic methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels.

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