| June 6, 2022 Food Supply Chain Stakeholders, USDA Rural Development is making $200 million available through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP). This program – administered by the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS) – will provide grants of up to $15 million to nonprofit lenders, including private nonprofits, cooperatives, public agencies, and Tribal entities, to establish revolving loan funds to finance projects that improve the resiliency of our food supply chain. The purpose of this program is to improve access to affordable capital for meat and poultry processors and other operators in the middle of the food supply chain while building the expertise and capacity of our lenders to support this important work. Additionally, USDA Rural Development, in cooperation with the University of New Hampshire's Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School of Public Policy, is announcing the Credit Ready Meat and Poultry Lending Initiative. This initiative will provide training and peer support to lenders interested in developing or expanding their capacity to finance projects in the meat and poultry processing sector. Information about both programs may be found below. Under this program, intermediaries will use this funding to establish revolving loan funds to finance a variety of activities related to meat and poultry processing. When loans are repaid, intermediaries can make additional loans to support activities throughout the middle of the food supply chain which can help businesses aggregate, process, manufacture, store, transport, wholesale, and distribute food. Grants for intermediaries are available through two application cycles and all application materials can be found at the program website or at grants.gov. The first application cycle will have $75 million in funding and is open from May 25 to 11:59 p.m. ET on July 25, 2022. The remaining $125 for the second application cycle will be announced in the coming months. Program applications must be submitted through the grants.gov portal. Two educational webinars for MPILP will be held in the coming weeks. The first webinar is a general program overview, and the second will focus on the program's purpose, applicant eligibility, and the application process. Please use the links below to RSVP for the webinars. To learn more about MPILP, please read the Request for Applications, visit the program website, and review the Rural Development press release. If you have additional questions, please submit them through the website (https://www.rd.usda.gov/mpilp) or email us directly at MPILP@usda.gov. For all other meat and poultry supply chain updates, please visit usda.gov/meat. Credit Ready Meat and Poultry Lending Initiative This opportunity will be available to all interested lenders, though recipients of MPILP grants will be given priority so they can more effectively deploy capital and support businesses engaged in processing. Approximately 30 lenders will be selected for the intensive training module. Lenders with experience financing the meat and poultry processing sector can help develop the curriculum for the initiative. Such lenders may submit requested information through a public Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process that will be announced in the coming weeks. Interested parties can sign up for updates on the RFQ release date and instructions for submissions. Thank you for your interest and continued support of Rural Development programs. | 
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