Opportunity Information: Apply for RD RBS 25 03 MPPEP
MPPEP Phase 3 Invasive Wild-Caught Catfish is a competitive federal grant opportunity from USDA Rural Development's Rural Business-Cooperative Service that focuses on a very specific slice of the meat and seafood processing landscape: boosting processing capacity for wild-caught invasive catfish. It sits under the broader Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), which USDA Rural Development created to expand U.S. processing capacity, promote competition, support sustainable growth across the sector, and strengthen supply chain resiliency. Earlier phases of MPPEP were broader in scope and supported new facility development as well as renovations and expansions of existing facilities. Phase III narrows the target to invasive catfish, aligning processing investments with ecological and economic goals.
The core purpose of this Phase III funding is to help processors increase throughput and overall processing volume of invasive, wild-caught catfish by funding the purchase of processing equipment. In addition to equipment costs, the program can support the associated facility work needed to put that equipment into service, such as improvements, upgrades, renovations, or retrofits to an existing facility specifically tied to installing and operating the equipment. The practical intent is to scale capacity and efficiency at processing plants so they can handle more invasive catfish, which in turn supports removal of these invasive fish from affected waters. USDA frames this as both an ecosystem protection strategy, because invasive species can damage marine environments, and an economic support strategy, because those impacts can threaten fishing industry livelihoods and related coastal economies.
Eligibility is broad and designed to include a wide range of entities that can realistically carry out processing capacity projects. Eligible applicants include for-profit businesses (including small businesses and for-profit organizations other than small businesses), nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, producer-owned cooperatives and corporations, certified benefit corporations, Tribes and Tribal entities, and state, county, and city or township governments. The listing also indicates "others," emphasizing that a variety of legal structures may qualify. The activity category is Agriculture, and the assistance listing is under CFDA number 10.381.
Administratively, the opportunity is identified as "MPPEP Phase 3 Invasive Wild-Caught Catfish" with funding opportunity number RD RBS 25 03 MPPEP. It is a discretionary grant program. The opportunity was created on 2025-08-07, and the application closing date is 2025-10-06. The maximum award amount (award ceiling) is $1,000,000, and USDA expects to make about 10 awards. In plain terms, applicants should be prepared for a competitive process with a limited number of awards, and they should be ready to clearly connect proposed equipment purchases and any necessary facility retrofits to measurable increases in invasive wild-caught catfish processing capacity.Apply for RD RBS 25 03 MPPEP
- The Rural Business-Cooperative Service in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "MPPEP Phase 3 Invasive Wild-Caught Catfish" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.381.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2025-08-07.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-10-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.
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