Virginia Regional Food System Infrastructure Needs Survey
Survey is open until 11:59 pm on 8/18/23.

[Section 1]
 
The Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services is  seeking your input to understand the food infrastructure landscape in Virginia. These survey responses will help to develop a four-year plan for supply chain infrastructure investment funding and technical assistance in Virginia. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
 
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) will be applying for $6.5 million over four years from the new USDA Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program to develop food and farm businesses and coordinate initiatives to build resilience across the food supply chain in Virginia. VDACS will invest in aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including fruits and vegetables, dairy, grains for human consumption, aquaculture, and other food products (but not meat or poultry).
 
Most of the funding will be distributed as grants to individual farms and food businesses. Grant recipients are required to contribute 50% of the total proposed project cost as a match to federal funding. For historically underserved farmers and ranchers, or for other businesses that qualify under SBA categories of small disadvantaged business, women-owned small business, or veteran-owned small business, the required match funding contribution or cost share is reduced to 25% of the project cost. The RFSI program especially intends to support investments that benefit producers that qualify as disadvantaged.
 
The aggregated findings from this survey will be shared publicly to help inform the development of the Virginia food system. Individual results will be held in confidence. Note that the new grant program will take some time to get established.
 
Please contact Seth Benton [seth.benton@vdacs.virginia.gov] if you have any questions. Thank you for contributing.

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* 1. What is your primary affiliation or profession?

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* 2. Optional.
If you are, work with, and/or procure from a farmer, rancher or processor, please specify which, if any, descriptions apply:

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* 3. The primary goal of RFSI is to support food system crops and products meant for human consumption (excluding meat, poultry, and wild-caught seafood products, which are funded through other USDA programs).

 

Which unprocessed Virginia agricultural products do you believe need further investment?  Please be as specific as possible (e.g., blueberries, carrots, milk, aquaculture, etc).  Please explain.

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* 4. If there are value-added food or lightly processed products you think we could be producing (or producing more of) with Virginia grown/raised ingredients (e.g., jams, juices, peanut butter, sauces) please list products

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* 5. The RFSI program will focus on funding infrastructure through grant activities in each state that expand food supply chain capacity for locally and regionally produced foods and offer more and better market opportunities to small and mid-sized agricultural producers.
List your top priorities.

Mark one for each below:       First priority     Second priority            Third priority

  Top Priority Second Priority Third Priority
Expand capacity for value-added processing
Expand capacity for aggregation
Expand capacity for cold storage
Expand capacity for distribution
Education on regenerative agriculture practices
Modernize, expand, enhance, or establish systems for manufacturing, tracking, and storage
Modernize, expand, enhance, or establish information technology systems
Enhance worker safety with new technologies, equipment, or facilities
Improve the capacity of businesses to comply with federal, state, and local food safety requirements
Improve operations through employee training
Support construction of new facilities
Modernize or expand existing facilities
Construct wastewater management structures, including composting, etc.
Modernize equipment for value-added processing
Develop, customize, or install equipment that has environmental benefits, including energy efficiency and solar energy to make operations more climate-smart
Community education efforts to utilize fresh fruits and vegetables in order to open up new markets like Farm to School, etc.
Other priorities or comments about those you marked

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* 6. Virginia may choose to prioritize coordination and investments based on specific markets that this survey identifies. Rank the following markets from 1-5 (1 being highest priority) that would benefit from targeted investments of financial and technical resources

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* 7. Besides direct investment (grants), please choose three to five of the following programs or services that would be most helpful to food/farm business development in Virginia right now.

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* 8. Is there a particular county or region in Virginia that you believe needs food/farm business investment or technical assistance? Please list county or region and explain.

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* 9. If you would like to receive announcements about the RSFI program as it evolves, please provide your email address.

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* 10. Optional. Your name, location, and preferred contact info

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* 11. Additional comments

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