Traditional development finance tools can be used to support food-related businesses and projects, leveraging further investment to catalyze local and regional food systems. Food can be a powerful tool for revitalization, in terms of both economic growth and improvements to the built environment. Many food-related enterprises are small businesses that keep dollars local and create jobs, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a multitude of financing programs available for these efforts. Offerings such as the Business and Industry Loan program, AMS loans for agriculture, and the new Regional Food System Partnerships are options that should be considered by small rural areas to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on food systems. During this installment of the CDFA Federal Financing Webinar Series, hear from experts at the USDA about their various programs available for rural food systems and agricultural producers to recover from the pandemic.

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