UC ANR and partners launch Southwest Regional Food Business Center

The Southwest Regional Food Business Center provides direct business technical assistance to small- and mid-sized food and farm businesses. From left, Michael Yang, Fresno County grower, Lilian Thaoxaochay and Ruth Dahlquist-Willard discuss produce cooling unit.

In the spring of 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that UC ANR was selected to lead the Southwest Regional Food Business Center, one of 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers across the country. The Southwest RFBC is a collaboration of 40 partners from academic, government, and community-based organizations across four states, Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. 

The goal of the Southwest Regional Food Business Center is to develop resilient, diverse and competitive local and regional food systems by improving opportunities for food and farm businesses. 

The Southwest RFBC will help producers gain access to local and regional supply chains, connecting them to wholesalers and distributors. With a focus on underserved farmers, ranchers and food businesses, partners will assist small- and mid-sized producers in overcoming barriers to market access and will help them access federal, state and local resources.

As a first step, UC ANR has assembled a Southwest Regional Food Business Center management team that is working closely with USDA and partners to set up the center. Over the past several months, the center management team has been drafting a framework for partners from all four states to collaborate, as well as attending meetings with representatives from the other RFBCs across the country. 

Next, the management team will guide the process of drafting implementation plans and forming a stakeholder advisory committee with partners participating in the process. The implementation plans will guide the technical assistance efforts, capacity building grants, coordination, and impact tracking that will result from the project. The stakeholder advisory committee will include the voices of clientele for developing the direction of the center. UC ANR is recruiting a project manager who will oversee the development of the center. 

In January, the California partners of the Southwest Regional Food Business Center will meet to begin developing an organizing strategy for the state. They will identify avenues for engagement with the UC ANR community, form channels of communication, and create a map and directory oftechnical assistance providers across the state.

For more information, visit the center's newly launched website for updates and a complete list of partners.

If you would like to get involved, contact members of the Southwest RFBC management team: evaluation lead Karen Jetter, UC Agricultural Issues Center, at jetter@ucanr.edu; technical assistance co-lead Tim Galarneau, UC Santa Cruz, at tgalarne@ucsc.edu; or interim business builder grants co-lead Rachael Callahan, UC SAREP, at rmcallahan@ucanr.edu.  

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