This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to continue carrying out the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program created by section 1001(b)(4) of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, maintaining the program’s existing structure and authorities as of enactment. The only substantive change is that, from the enactment date forward, recipients may use program funding for activities related to meat and poultry products.
The change is narrow on its face — it does not add new eligibility categories, new grant authorities, or an appropriation — but it removes a prior limitation on permissible uses and therefore shifts how existing dollars can be deployed. That administrative flexibility could reshape which projects compete successfully for funds and how USDA manages grant review and compliance going forward.
At a Glance
What It Does
Statutorily continues the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program established under ARPA (section 1001(b)(4)) and preserves the program’s current terms and operations. It amends permissible uses so program recipients may apply awarded funds to activities relating to meat and poultry products beginning on the enactment date.
Who It Affects
USDA as the administering agency, current and prospective grant recipients of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program (including community food hubs, regional processors, and infrastructure projects), and stakeholders in meat and poultry processing chains such as small and mid-sized slaughterhouses. State inspection programs and federally regulated processors will see downstream effects.
Why It Matters
By authorizing meat- and poultry-related projects, the bill widens the pool of infrastructure activities eligible for scarce grant dollars — a practical change that could influence project selection, regional food resilience strategies, and the balance between produce/distribution projects and processing capacity investments.
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What This Bill Actually Does
Congress created the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program in the American Rescue Plan to shore up local and regional food systems with grants for infrastructure and capacity. This bill does not reinvent that program.
Instead, it orders USDA to keep running the program the same way it is run on the day the bill becomes law, except recipients may now spend their awarded funds on meat- and poultry-related activities.
Operationally, the most important shift is functional rather than structural: projects that build or upgrade slaughter, processing, cold storage, or other meat/poultry infrastructure may now be eligible uses under existing awards or future grant solicitations. The bill leaves intact the program’s existing terms — eligibility, application processes, and other statutory constraints remain governed by the ARPA language and USDA implementing rules unless agency guidance modifies them within those parameters.The statute is terse and leaves implementation choices to USDA.
The agency will need to decide whether to revise grant solicitations, application scoring criteria, or reporting templates to reflect the broadened permissible uses. Because the bill does not appropriate new funds, any shift toward meat and poultry projects would reallocate competition for the same funding pool, potentially changing the geographic and sectoral mix of awardees.Several cross-cutting issues flow from this change.
Meat and poultry projects often trigger food-safety regulation, facility permitting, and heavy capital requirements, so recipients and USDA will face coordination questions with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), state inspection officials, and local permitting authorities. Smaller processors may need technical assistance and longer timelines to meet regulatory and financing readiness for capital projects, which could affect how grants are structured and monitored.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill keeps the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program in force 'in the same manner' as on the enactment date but explicitly allows recipients to use program funding for activities relating to meat and poultry products.
It amends the program established by section 1001(b)(4) of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; it does not create a new grant program or add new statutory eligibility categories.
The change takes effect on the date of enactment and applies to uses of funding received under the program from that date forward.
The bill contains no new appropriation; available funding remains whatever has been or will be appropriated under existing statutory authority and USDA allocations.
USDA retains discretion over implementation details (grant solicitations, scoring criteria, reporting), so practical access to funds for meat and poultry projects will depend on subsequent agency guidance and award decisions.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Provides the Act’s short title: 'Resilient Food Supply Chain and Affordability Act.' This is a naming provision only and does not affect substantive implementation or agency obligations.
Continuation and limited expansion of Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to continue administering the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program established under ARPA section 1001(b)(4) 'in the same manner' as of the enactment date, while adding that recipients may use program funds for activities relating to meat and poultry products starting on the date of enactment. Practically, this preserves existing statutory authority and program structure but removes a prior constraint on permissible uses. The provision does not define 'activities relating to meat and poultry products,' does not alter eligibility or award criteria in text, and does not appropriate new funds; it therefore relies on USDA rulemaking and grant guidance to operationalize the expanded uses.
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Explore Agriculture in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Small and mid-sized meat and poultry processors — gaining potential access to grant dollars for equipment, cold storage, or facility upgrades that improve regional processing capacity and reduce reliance on distant large processors.
- Regional food hubs and agricultural cooperatives that integrate processing services — which can expand vertically to include meat/poultry handling and offer more complete supply-chain solutions to local producers.
- Rural communities and producers — who may see improved market access and revenue stability if local slaughter and processing capacity is expanded, helping retain local economic value.
- Consumers concerned with local supply resilience — communities that faced meat-processing bottlenecks could benefit from more distributed processing infrastructure that reduces supply shocks.
- Nonprofit and technical assistance providers — organizations that help small processors meet regulatory and financing requirements may become more central as grant-funded projects require compliance support.
Who Bears the Cost
- USDA (program offices) — which must interpret the expanded permissible uses, update solicitations and oversight, and likely coordinate with FSIS and state inspection programs without additional appropriations for increased administrative workload.
- Existing and prospective non-meat applicants — who may face increased competition for a fixed pool of grant funds if awards shift toward capital-intensive meat and poultry projects.
- State and local permitting and inspection agencies — which may see a rise in permit applications and need to coordinate with federally funded infrastructure projects, potentially straining local permitting timelines and resources.
- Grant recipients undertaking meat/poultry projects — who will face higher complexity, regulatory compliance costs, and potential matching-fund or phased-construction requirements compared with lower-capital food-distribution projects.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between using flexible grant dollars to shore up capital-intensive meat and poultry processing capacity — which can reduce systemic bottlenecks — and preserving funding for a broader set of smaller-scale food-system investments that also improve resilience and equity; expanding permissible uses helps one constraint but risks diverting scarce funds away from other resilience-building activities.
The bill is short and administratively focused, which creates implementation questions that matter more than the statutory text. First, the statute does not define the scope of 'activities relating to meat and poultry products' — that phrase could include processing plant construction, cold chain upgrades, mobile slaughter units, waste management systems, or support services.
USDA’s interpretation will determine which projects can receive funds and whether awards can retroactively cover previously disallowed costs.
Second, because the bill does not provide new funding or revise eligibility criteria beyond permissible uses, a practical shift toward meat and poultry infrastructure will reallocate a limited funding pool. Meat and poultry projects typically require larger capital investments and longer timelines than distribution or aggregation projects; without targeted set-asides or changes to scoring, smaller-scale food-systems projects could be crowded out.
Finally, adding meat/poultry infrastructure raises regulatory complexity: recipients may need to coordinate with FSIS, state inspection programs, and local regulators. USDA will need to decide how grant conditions, matching requirements, and technical assistance support will address regulatory readiness, environmental permitting, and long-term operational viability.
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