SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) announced plans to distribute $3.6 million in fiscal year 2026 at the Everything Local conference in Springfield on Wednesday. The funds, which were appropriated in the FY26 state budget, will be used to support local food processing, aggregation, and distribution. Grants will be available for collaborative projects from $1,000 to $250,000 and for individual projects from $1,000 to $75,000.
Applications for grant funding will be available Feb. 18 on the Illinois Department of Agriculture website.
Eligible applicants include Illinois residents who store, process, package, aggregate or distribute value-added agricultural products or plan to do so. These entities must meet one of the following criteria:
- an Illinois farm with fewer than 50 employees
- an Illinois cooperative with fewer than 50 employees
- an Illinois slaughter and/or processing facility with fewer than 50 employees. Slaughter and/or processing facilities must be USDA or state licensed or be a custom exempt slaughter and/or processing facility
- an Illinois food business with fewer than 50 employees
- an Illinois food hub with fewer than 50 employees
- an Illinois nonprofit organization
- a unit of local government in Illinois
To encourage further expansion of the local food industry, all grant funding must be used for purchasing, leasing to own, renting, building or installing infrastructure related to the processing, storage, aggregation, or distribution of value-added agricultural products.
Those interested can prepare for the upcoming application by pre-registering with SAM.gov and the GATA Grantee Portal.
Additional information about the program, supporting links and helpful guidance on getting ahead on the application can be found on the Department’s website.
