State Agriculture Commissioner Announces $1 Million Available for Farm and Food Organizations to Upgrade Equipment

Jul 09, 2025

State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball today announced that $1 million is now available for farm and food businesses to purchase equipment for processing, packing, aggregating, storing, and distributing of New York grown or produced food products through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Grant Program. The funding announced today is the second of two grant programs announced last year as part of a cooperative agreement between New York State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service to expand middle of the supply chain work to create a more resilient food system in New York State.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “These equipment-only grants are the second round of funding in the RFSI program, aimed at strengthening and investing in New York’s food systems.

Purchasing critical new equipment will be a game changer for so many farm and food businesses and will allow them to connect more New Yorkers to fresh, local foods. I thank all our partners for their work moving this progressive programming forward and look forward to seeing the impact these projects have on our communities.”

Source : ny.gov

Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?