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...

The Climate Capital Guidebook aggregates current federal funding opportunities—including grants, loans, loan guarantees, and cooperative agreements—for small- and medium-sized companies, both start-ups and established businesses, focusing on clean...

This issue brief produced by the Yale Center for Business and the Environment examines the varying definitions of regenerative agriculture and details the three types of factors that make financing regenerative agriculture difficult: outdated...

A groundbreaking report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Equity Commission features more than 60 recommendations designed to make policies affecting farming and rural America more fair. A few key recommendations include...

The Rhode Island Food Policy Council has released a first-of-its-kind resource providing a data-driven assessment of the status of Rhode Island's food system, incorporating the best available research and data, and presenting information on the...

Local and Regional Foods are a small but vitally important part of agriculture sales in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide is intended to help stakeholders navigate USDA...

This report, developed by the Croatan Institute in collaboration with the Meridian Institute, explores major on-farm, off-farm, and systemic risks that the agricultural industry faces and how finance can increase the resilience of those systems...

The CDFA-NASDA Foundation Socially Disadvantaged Farmers & Ranchers Access to Capital Toolkit is a set of best practice resources designed to provide practical assistance to communities looking to invest in socially disadvantaged farmers and...

Croatan Institute and Self-Help announce the release of a major new collaborative report that explores leading challenges faced by the Farm Credit System – the largest lender in the agricultural sector. This new report documents leading...

This report, published by The Wallace Center, outlines the initial impact of the USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA). Through partnerships with state agencies, and territory and tribal governments, this innovative new program is...

Funding Sources for Food-Related Businesses includes sources of local, regional, and national finance opportunities that may be available to producers, distributors, food hubs, and food-related businesses. Initially informed by a list of funding...

Highlighted Farm Service Agency Programs for Small–Scale or diversified Farmers and Ranchers.

A roadmap for delivering opportunity and investments in rural America. This playbook is intended to help rural communities understand the available funding for infrastructure provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other sources –...

In the seed market, promoting fair and vibrant competition involves considerations of intellectual property (IP) law, antitrust and other fair business practices law, and public investment in our food system. These are complex and often confusing...

A new report from Croatan Institute highlights how the Soil Wealth Area model can facilitate more investment in regenerative agriculture, enhance conservation, and support resilient rural economies. The report provides specific recommendations for...

To help local policymakers, leaders, advocates, researchers, and others understand policy options for communities seeking to increase access to healthy food, the Healthy Food Policy Project (HFPP) developed a framework to show how local...

The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) is pleased to announce the CDFA Community Facilities Technical Assistance Program for Tribal Communities, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This program aims to to increase...

Regenerative farms rely on small-to-mid scale, aligned infrastructure to process, transport, and market their products. These middle infrastructure businesses help to improve farm income and bolster regional food economies while providing...

The Franklin Templeton Institute, a global investment management organization, released its latest insights paper, “Food innovation: Investing to feed our future,” focusing on the innovation and investments needed to feed a growing global population...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) launched a joint resource guide to help community organizations access USDA and EDA resources to build strategies to boost economic...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is partnering with farmer-serving organizations, such as the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and its members to better reach and serve an increasingly diverse farmer and rancher constituency for...

The Federal Reserve has created this book to bring together community and economic development researchers, practitioners, philanthropists, and others to showcase the great work happening across this country and to outline a framework for conducting...

This is a USDA resource guide to help people in rural America start and grow businesses, create good-paying jobs in their communities and strengthen America’s economy. The guide features information on how rural entrepreneurs can use USDA and other...

This report explores the concepts, practices, challenges, and promise of regional food systems, focusing on the Northeast U.S. as a laboratory for regional food systems thinking and action, but it also describes and gives examples of regional food...

U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the Department is increasing the maximum loan amount to $400,000 under the Intermediary Relending Program. This change is in accordance with provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018...

The USDA Drought Tool Kit is specifically designed to assist officials and community leaders mitigate the impact of an ongoing drought. The Drought Tool Kit will help in accessing valuable resources to share with constituents in areas recovering...

Together, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development mission area have developed this Joint Resource Guide to further our commitment to...

USDA Rural Development (RD) developed this guide as a resource for rural communities seeking disaster resiliency and recovery assistance. The recent National Climate Assessment (NCA) identifies that more frequent and extreme weather and...

This Interactive Guide from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides an interactive, step-by-step approach for users to filter through more than 90 broadband related programs compiled from 12 federal agencies...

America’s rural workforce provides a vital foundation for the nation’s economy. Rural America supplies the nation’s food and energy resources, and the fiber necessary for goods and manufacturing. As USDA continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic...

This guide was created by the USDA in 2021 for community leaders and other local entities. The guide highlights four key assistance types necessary to building a stronger rural workforce: 1) Workforce development planning; 2) Infrastructure and...

The USDA Rural Development published a final rule outlining changes to the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) on June 7, 2021. The program provides loans and grants to microenterprise development organizations to help them establish...

During this installment of the CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series, learn about essential financing sources employed by rural communities to complete projects in today’s economy.

This table includes all the federal-to-local funding streams in the American Rescue Plan that reach cities and their residents. It does not include appropriations to Tribal Governments or Agency appropriations focused on program operations at the...

This report from Drexel University's Nowak Metro Finance Lab provides a guide to federal funding in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The authors place a special emphasis on formula funds received by local anchors, competitive grants, and funds...

During the first installment of the CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series, hear about a new technical assistance program from CDFA designed to support rural communities that have recently experienced a natural disaster. Experts discussed the...

The federal programs and tools available today to help generate social and economic development in rural communities serve as a reminder of active and broad federal involvement in the 20th century, and the possibilities for federal leadership to...

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for broadband and the gaps in broadband access. As part of our collaboration with Ice Miller, this video is designed to provide a review of the various approaches to expanding broadband access and how to assess...

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health and social distancing mandates caused unprecedented shifts and disruptions for Local and Regional Food Systems (LRFS). USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) along with the cooperating research...

An investment in food infrastructure will ensure that Native producers have access to reliable markets and the wraparound support services that are so critical to robust food systems. By approaching infrastructure from a new model and linking...

This Interim Report issued by United States Trade Representative and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture identifies key achievements from February to October 2020 in the area of agricultural trade between the United States and China.

CDFA's first publication of the CDFA Charter Schools Financing Initiative series, funded with support from the National Alliance For Public Charter Schools. This paper demonstrates how charter schools can access development finance tools and public...

This is the sixth and final white paper in a series examining the potential creation of a food systems asset class that supports the market growth of local and regional food systems. This paper presents three replicable strategies for restoring...

More than 30 USDA grant and loan programs provide support and assistance for local and urban food producers and producer groups. These grant and loan programs may be grouped into several broad program categories, including marketing and promotion;...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is committed to supporting robust regional food economies across the food chain. This graphic is designed to be a guide for which programs are best suited for different parts of the supply chain.

There are several existing agricultural lender initiatives that can inform the development of lending programs or products for resilient agriculture. This report derives five key lessons from these initiatives, including the need to understand the...

USDA’s Forest Service (FS), Rural Development (RD), and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have developed this resource guide for rural communities to identify resources that develop the recreation economy.

On February 13, 2019, the American Broadband Initiative was launched with the release of the Milestones Report, detailing the Administration’s strategy to drive changes across Federal Agencies to identify and remove barriers to broadband access and...

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we explored financing programs that support healthcare development and showcase successful projects that have increased access to healthcare for rural communities.

During the second installment of the CDFA-ARI Rural Finance Webinar Series, we continued to explore what responses and resources are available to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on rural America.