{"id":28894,"date":"2025-02-25T14:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=28894"},"modified":"2025-02-25T10:26:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:26:29","slug":"maryland-department-of-agriculture-partners-with-northeast-regional-food-business-center-to-launch-business-builder-funding-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/02\/25\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-partners-with-northeast-regional-food-business-center-to-launch-business-builder-funding-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Department of Agriculture Partners with Northeast Regional Food Business Center to Launch Business Builder Funding Opportunity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"28895\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/02\/25\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-partners-with-northeast-regional-food-business-center-to-launch-business-builder-funding-opportunity\/attachment\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-business-builder-flyer_1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?fit=790%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"790,1024\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?fit=760%2C985&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-28895\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?resize=231%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?resize=231%2C300&amp;ssl=1 231w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?resize=768%2C995&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/1740497033685-5ced229f-49ca-4ac1-81c8-2807d0ebe5ce-2025-Business-Builder-Flyer_1.jpg?w=790&amp;ssl=1 790w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD (February 25, 2025) <\/strong>\u2013 The <strong>Maryland Department of Agriculture <\/strong>is pleased to partner with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasda.org\/northeast-regional-food-business-center\/\"><strong>Northeast Regional Food Business Center<\/strong> <\/a>to announce the launch of the first round of <strong>Business Builder sub-awards<\/strong>, designed to strengthen the Maryland and regional food systems by providing direct funding to small- and mid-sized farm and food businesses, including aquaculture and wild-caught marine businesses. Ten million dollars will be made available in this round, with awards ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 to support businesses in scaling their operations, expanding markets and connecting various segments of the regional food supply chain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The Business Builder program will fund projects through three specialized funding tracks:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Track 1: Equipment Acquisition ($25,000 &#8211; $50,000)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><em>Supports the purchase of specialized post-harvest equipment, such as wash-and-pack stations, refrigerated vans, cold storage units and food safety upgrades<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Track 2: Business Development ($15,000 &#8211; $25,000)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Provides funding for business planning, financial guidance, supply chain analysis, food safety training, workforce development and strategy development.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Track 3: Product &amp; Market Expansion ($50,000 &#8211; $100,000)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Assists businesses in expanding through new product development, market analysis, packaging supplies, kitchen appliances and software implementation.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Applications opened Feb. 24 and will close April 7. Awardees will be announced in July, and funded projects will begin in August.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">To support prospective applicants, the Center published a pre-recorded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasda.org\/business-builder-sub-awards\/\">webinar<\/a> and will host four live informational webinars on March 3, March 11, March 19 and March 27 to answer technical questions and provide guidance on the application process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The Northeast Regional Food Business Center was established in 2023 and is led by a collaborative structure that includes the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the NASDA Foundation, New York State Department of Agriculture &amp; Markets, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation &amp; Forestry, Buffalo Go Green, Cornell University\u2019s Center for Regional Economic Advancement and various advisory councils.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">For more details and to apply for the Business Builder subawards, visit the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasda.org\/northeast-regional-food-business-center\/\"> Northeast Regional Food Business Center website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">###<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (February 25, 2025) \u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture is pleased to partner with the Northeast Regional Food Business Center to announce the launch of the first round of Business Builder sub-awards, designed to strengthen the Maryland and regional food systems by providing direct funding to small- and mid-sized farm and food businesses,<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/02\/25\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-partners-with-northeast-regional-food-business-center-to-launch-business-builder-funding-opportunity\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28896,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28894\/revisions\/28896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}