Illinois Code § 15

§ 15.

Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program. Funding appropriated for the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program shall be allocated to the Department. The Department may enter into a subcontract agreement with a nonprofit organization that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that represents farmers in order to administer the grant program established under this Act, so long as the administration of the grant program by the grant administrator adheres to the requirements of this Act, including the following requirements: (1) Eligible grant applicants shall include any one or more of the following entities that store, process, package, aggregate, or distribute value-added agricultural products or plan to do so: (A) Illinois farms with less than 50 employees; (B) Illinois cooperatives with less than 50 employees; (C) Illinois processing facilities with less than 50 employees; (D) Illinois food businesses with less than 50 employees; (E) Illinois food hubs with less than 50 employees; (F) Illinois nonprofit organizations; and (G) units of local government in Illinois. Grant proposals may be submitted to the grant administrator by individuals, groups, partnerships, or collaborations. A recipient of grant funding under this Act whose project is funded in a grant cycle is not eligible to apply for grant funding under this Act for that project in the next funding cycle nor is any other person eligible to apply for grant funding for that project in the next funding cycle. However, any person may apply for grant funding under this Act for such project in any subsequent funding cycles. (2) Grant awards shall be available for collaborative and individual projects at the following award amounts: (A) for a collaborative project, a grant of $1,000 to $250,000 may be awarded; and (B) for an individual project, a grant of $1,000 to $75,000 may be awarded. (3) All funded projects must show comparable investments by the recipient in the development and progression of the project being funded or must show evidence of being a high need project. The recipient's comparable investments may be provided in cash, cash-equivalent investments, bonds, irrevocable letters of credit, time and labor, or any combination of those matching fund sources. Acceptable providers of matching funds include, but are not limited to, commercial, municipal, and private lenders; leasing companies; and grantors of funds. A project may be designated as a high need project if at least one of the following conditions is met: (A) the project can demonstrate that it is filling a gap in critical infrastructure for its region or community that is unlikely to be resolved without the grant investment; or (B) the project can demonstrate that the grant investment will primarily serve underserved farmers or underserved communities. (4) All grant funding provided under this Act 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. Allowable expenses include, but are not limited to: (A) equipment used in the production of value-added agricultural products; (B) milling or pressing equipment; (C) creamery or milk product processing and packaging equipment; (D) food hub development or expansion; (E) cooler walls and refrigeration units; (F) grading, packing, labeling, packaging, or sorting equipment; (G) refrigerated trucks; (H) custom exempt mobile slaughter units and livestock processing equipment; (I) agroforestry processing equipment; and (J) local fish and shrimp processing. Grant funding provided under this Act may not be used for labor, marketing, or promotion or for the costs of production agriculture, such as costs for the purchase of hoop houses, irrigation, or other infrastructure related to starting or increasing agricultural production. (Source: P.A. 103-772, eff. 8-2-24.)