The Kansas Department of Agriculture announced that the COVID Relief Fund supported nearly $12 million of grants to help secure local food systems

Lawrence, KS – According to the statement, this is part of the discretionary CARES Act funding allocated to Kansas.

This program is administered by the Kansas Department of Agriculture and initially supported by the Kansas Department of Commerce and it’s mainly focused on providing grants to Kansas-owned food-related businesses to increase capacity.

This also includes expansion of facilities, new equipment and technology to improve business resilience, and support to ensure worker safety and social distancing guidelines.

There were 257 grantees across 80 counties. Types of businesses that received grants included slaughter and other food processing facilities, direct-to-consumer food businesses, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, food pantries, and more.