MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is accepting applications for 2022 Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin (BLBW) grants through April 2, 2022. DATCP will award a total of up to $300,000 in BLBW grant funding in 2022.
BLBW is a competitive grant program designed to strengthen Wisconsin’s agriculture and food industries by helping farms and businesses more efficiently process, market, and distribute locally grown food products. BLBW grants provide consumers with access to more Wisconsin-grown food products, including organic vegetables, hops varieties, hazelnut products, locally grown grain, and other value-added products.
Qualified applicants include individuals, groups, or businesses involved in Wisconsin production agriculture, food processing, food distribution, food warehousing, retail food establishments, or agricultural tourism operations. Projects may include collaborations or partnerships.
Projects can receive grant funds for up to three years in duration. Grant requests must be between $5,000 and $50,000. Eligible project expenses include compensation for personnel, consultant services, materials, and supplies. Projects must show a one-to-one match of cash or in-kind support accounting for at least 50 percent of the total project budget.
DATCP will use a competitive review process to select the most qualified projects. Selected project contracts and work would begin in June 2022.
Grant information and application materials are available at https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/
Since its inception in 2008, more than 450 applications have been submitted for Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grants, requesting a total of more than $15.8 million in funding. Of those applications, 76 projects have been funded, totaling more than $2.1 million. Previous grant recipients have generated more than $12.69 million in new local food sales, created and retained more than 285 jobs, and benefited more than 3,800 producers and 4,055 markets.
