The fund, which Grassley created through the Crop Insurance Act, is designed to assist agricultural producers by providing grants for ventures to capture a greater share of the consumer food dollar.
"This is a bold new approach that will help create a brighter future for family farmers and their rural communities," Grassley said. "It is my hope that the fund will help independent grain and livestock producers find real solutions to address the loss of competition in agricultural markets, to combat concentration in food production and processing, and create new value-added business opportunities."
The competitively awarded grants will allow producers to better compete in domestic and international markets by assisting with the development of business plans for their value-added business ventures or alliances.
There will be two competitions for grants of up to $500,000 in matching dollars. The deadline for receipt of an application for the first competition is 5 pm eastern time on April 23, 2001. Applications for the second competition are due 4 pm eastern time on June 27, 2001.
The following are criteria for the grants:
?The technical feasibility of the value-added activity.
?Level of producer commitment.
?Level of commitment from end-users of the product to be produced.
?Qualifications of personnel performing the proposed tasks and demonstrated track record of performing activities similar to those being proposed.
?Plan of work incorporating the appropriate tasks to accomplish the stated objectives.
?Projected cost per producer.
?Level of support from different development groups and agencies.