In 2023, USDA funded the Regional Food Business Center program which allowed 12 centers to open across America, with the mission to strengthen local and regional food systems and grow new businesses.  We at the Southwest Regional Food Business Center came together and built a strong program based on a core value of lifting up and supporting our small to mid-size food and farm businesses. From rural ranchers to urban farms and everyone in between, we trained producers, processors, food hubs and regional distributors on business navigation, market readiness, including access to funding, and all of the important business components of running a competitive business. We trained buyers such as hospitals and schools on purchasing local agricultural products which helps strengthen local food supply chains as well as local economies.  

The Centers entered into a cooperative agreement with USDA in which USDA committed to fund our work through 2028; however we were recently informed that USDA will be terminating all Center activities on September 15, 2025, with the exception of Business Builder grant management. As a result, we will have to significantly scale back the services that we had planned, and were contracted, to provide to farmers and food businesses across Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. We are saddened by the impact this will have on our farm and food businesses.

Over the past 2 years the Southwest Regional Food Business Center has directly served 2,181 individuals and over 1,850 farm and food organizations and businesses. We were able to get a portion of the Business Builder grants to over 55 farmers and food entrepreneurs. Additionally, we have built a strong network of  partners who are committed to continuing the work of the Center. We are committed to exploring new funding strategies to ensure the continuation of core functions, like capacity building, resource development, newsletter, webinars and essential coordination across the partner network are able to continue.

Over the coming two months, we will be sharing news about our impacts, announcing our Business Builder grant recipients.  We will also be developing an operational strategy and seeking funding to continue the vital work of our Center. We are deeply grateful for the commitment and dedication to our region’s small farmers demonstrated by our Center partners, and the incredible local farms, ranches and food businesses throughout the region.