News and Announcements
Local Food Infrastructure Grant – Due March 27
The Illinois Department of Agriculture is investing $3.6M through the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program (LFIG) to help scale up the processing, aggregation, and distribution of local food across Illinois. Applications open February 18 and close March 27, 2026.
LFIG can help farms, food businesses, food hubs, and other supply chain partners purchase, lease-to-own, rent, build, or install infrastructure that expands market access for Illinois-grown products. Funding can support value-added processing, livestock processing, milling, dairy infrastructure, refrigerated vehicles, food hubs, community kitchens, and more. Collaborative projects can request up to $250,000, and individual projects can apply for up to $75,000. A match is required unless you qualify for high-need status. Stay tuned for technical assistance options!
Interested in applying? Be sure you have a current UIE number through SAM.gov. Pre-register here. Obtaining a UIE number can take 2 or more weeks and needs to be renewed annually.
Makala Bach (backmak@illinois.edu )
Vegetable Chat Webinar Series
Vegetable Chat is a webinar series from the Purdue University Vegetable Team and is designed to support commercial vegetable growers in Indiana and surrounding states by featuring experts to discuss crop-specific topics and broader production issues. Each session includes a presentation over Zoom followed by a live Q&A. Visit the website to see what future topics will be covered.
Session #1 of the Vegetable Chat webinar series featured Dr. Thomas Björkman discussing broccoli production in the Midwest. Topics included marketing, production, and postharvest management.
Session #2 of the Vegetable Chat webinar series featured Ben Werling discussing asparagus production in the Midwest. Ben discussed Michigan asparagus industry, production, major pests, weed control, harvest and postharvest.
Session #3 of Vegetable Chat webinar series featured Chris Long, Potato Extension Specialist from Michigan State, focusing on potato production.
Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Version 2.0
Dear Produce Growers, PSA collaborators, Regulators, Extension Educators, and Members of the Produce Industry Community,
A Version 2.0 of the PSA Grower Training (GT) course curriculum is being developed. As part of this effort, we would like to invite produce growers, extension educators/trainers, and fresh produce regulators to participate in a pilot GT course to share their feedback on this new version.
To ensure balanced representation across stakeholder groups, a selection process to participate in these courses is being conducted using a Qualtrics survey. We are targeting 4 specific groups; (1) fresh produce growers who have never attended a PSA GT, (2) fresh produce growers who have already taken a PSA GT, (3) extension educators or others who are currently serving as PSA Trainers, and (4) regulatory personnel engaged in FSMA Produce Safety Rule inspections.
If you belong to one of these groups and are interested in being considered for one of the pilots, please fill out the survey before March 20. If you know others who belong to one of these groups that may be interested, please share this email with them. We are working to create a nationally representative pool of participants and appreciate your assistance with sharing this information as widely as possible.
To learn more about the PSA and the GT course, please visit the Produce Safety Alliance website.
Thank you for your time and collaboration with the PSA, and for your continued commitment to produce safety. If you have any questions, please reply to this email.
Best regards,
The PSA Team
psatrainers@cornell.edu