U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday, December 9, 2021, announced USDA is deploying $100 million under the new Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program to make available nearly $1 billion in loan guarantees; these loan guarantees will back private investment in processing and food supply infrastructure that will strengthen the food supply chain for the American people. GCCA has advocated the importance of access to capital to help members expand their operations and strengthen the food supply chain.

Through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program, USDA will partner with lenders to guarantee loans of up to $40 million to help eligible entities expand meat and poultry processing capacity and finance other food supply chain infrastructure. USDA Rural Development (RD) will administer the loans. We are excited that many GCCA members with operations in the U.S. will be eligible to participate in this new loan program. Funding may be used to:

• start-up or expand food supply chain activities such as aggregating, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling or distributing food.
• address supply chain bottlenecks.
• increase capacity and help create a more resilient, diverse and secure U.S. food supply chain.

GCCA encourages interested borrowers to talk to their preferred lender to determine if the lender is approved through the OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative. If not, you may want to encourage them to participate. Otherwise, contact your state USDA Rural Development office for assistance with identifying a participating lender.

Read more about this program HERE.

Read the USDA fact sheet HERE.