06 · Funding

Two entities, two funnels, and the match we already have.

Which source funds which cost, and what it expects

This project is fundable from streams a plain commercial build cannot reach, because it is a cooperative, a local-food hub, a public trail, and equity-aligned all at once. And the 20-to-50 percent match most of these require is our strength: our contractor labor and the county's land supply it.

The one rule that shapes everything

The three food-hub grants do not overlapRFSI is the only one that funds construction and fixed equipment. VAPG funds working capital only, no construction. LFPP funds market development only, no construction and no general equipment. Assign each cost to exactly one source; no federal grant may match another federal grant.

To fund…	Use…	Match	Key expectation
Barn → market + kitchen, cold storage, fixed equipment	RFSI (the only construction/equipment grant)	50%, or 25% if women/veteran-owned or small-disadvantaged	Reimbursement; Buy-America on materials
Value-added operating line (labor, packaging, marketing, kitchen rental)	VAPG working capital, up to $200k	1:1, half must be cash	No construction/equipment; needs producer members
Hub coordination, aggregation, market development	LFPP, $25k-500k	25%	No construction, no coolers/freezers
Farm (irrigation, high tunnels, fencing, soil)	NRCS EQIP + King Conservation District	Cost-share	Paid after the practice is installed
Farmer incubation / training	BFRDP via the nonprofit arm	none	Favors nonprofit / education applicants
Trailhead + trail segment	KC Parks Levy + WA RCO	20%, our labor in-kind	County-deployed; off the private budget
Float + cash match	Member equity + cooperative CDFIs	none	Repayable; funds what grants won't

The nonprofit arm is a funding multiplier

The companion nonprofit, a co-op member and co-steward, unlocks money the business cooperative is locked out of, and one of those pots funds construction:

USDA Community Facilities

Funds purchase, construction, and improvement of essential community facilities, explicitly including community kitchens and food hubs, for nonprofits in rural areas (the program covers towns up to 20,000 residents, so Duvall qualifies by population), year-round. Grants are modest but the low-interest loans can be large, so it is both grant and financing.

HFFI · Community Food Projects

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (run regionally by Ecotrust) provides grants and loans for commercial kitchens and retail in underserved areas. Community Food Projects grants are nonprofit-only, for community food security.

4Culture heritage

King County's cultural funder offers heritage-preservation grants. If the landmark barn qualifies, 4Culture could fund the shell restoration, moving the single most uncertain cost line off the private budget.

Partners & philanthropy

Washington Farmland Trust and Forterra as co-stewards; Ecotrust and the Cascadia Foodshed collaborative (Seattle Foundation, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation); BFRDP and Western SARE for training.

How the two entities split it

The cooperative holds

RFSI (the build and fixed equipment)
LFPP (hub coordination, market development)
VAPG (value-added working capital)
WSDA Local Food Infrastructure; NRCS EQIP as operator

The nonprofit holds

Community Facilities (construction)
Community Food Projects; HFFI via Ecotrust
BFRDP, Western SARE, foundations
4Culture heritage for the barn shell

Kept cleanA short cost-allocation agreement and sublease between the two entities assigns each grant-funded improvement to the correct entity and documents that no cost is funded twice. That is also what keeps the compatible-use county lease clean.

One constraint over every construction lineStructures and impervious surface must fit the 1986 farmland-preservation easement's terms as well as the zoning (the program's standard form caps non-tillable ground at about 5 percent, roughly 3.96 acres here with about 1.09 acres already counted). Adaptive reuse of the existing barn footprint spends almost none of that allowance, which is one more reason the build leans on the barn. The easement's verbatim text is on order; construction scopes stay provisional until it is read.

The realities to budget around

Everything reimburses late No federal-matches-federal No double-dipping Buy-America on RFSI construction Prevailing wage on the trail Entity must exist to apply

From sources to a number

Grants reimburse after you spend, so the real question is how much you float.

The budget page turns this stack into a ballpark cost and, from it, the private capital you actually raise, which is the peak, not the total.

Budget & the raise →

Sources & findings

RFSI: USDA AMS / WSDA Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program (construction and equipment; 50% match, reduced to 25% for underserved / small-disadvantaged / women- / veteran-owned; Build America Buy America).
VAPG: USDA Rural Development Value-Added Producer Grants (planning up to $50k, working capital up to $200k; 1:1 match, half cash; no construction or equipment except $6,500 food-safety; farmer/rancher cooperatives eligible).
LFPP: USDA AMS Local Food Promotion Program (planning $25-100k, implementation $100-500k; 25% match; no construction or general equipment; cooperatives eligible).
Nonprofit construction & food access: USDA Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant (community kitchens/food hubs, rural, year-round); Healthy Food Financing Initiative (Reinvestment Fund / Ecotrust); USDA Community Food Projects (nonprofit-only).
Farm & training: NRCS EQIP (including the high-tunnel initiative); King Conservation District; USDA BFRDP; Western SARE.
Trail: King County Parks Levy grant programs (Community Partnerships, Trail Connections, River Corridors); WA Recreation and Conservation Office (Recreational Trails Program, WWRP).
Heritage & partners: 4Culture; Washington Farmland Trust; Forterra; Cascadia Foodshed Funding Project. Grant cycles and figures change annually; confirm each before applying.