Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
Practices
- Farm Business Management: business planning, marketing management, packaging and labeling
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems
Proposal abstract:
The grant is a $40,000 Sustainable Community Innovation Grant funded by a partnership between the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Project, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Southern Rural Development Center.
The grant will assist produce farmers with the need to consolidate production, grading, packaging and distribution activities of locally grown produce and farm products at one location where costs of distribution and marketing can be shared, and where sales can be made to larger volume users such as grocery chains, institutions, larger food shippers/packers and processors, and restaurant chains.
The funds will allow expansion of the use of value-added facilities and equipment in the three counties: a value-added center in Madison County with truck loading bays, indoor staging area, vegetable wash-line, walk-in chillers and freezers, icemaker, basic prep. Kitchen with steamer/par boiler, vacuum packer, storage, small commercial-grade dehydrators, and a flour mill; in Yancey, a walk-in dehydrator is coming online for mushroom and herb growers; in Mitchell, a walk-in cooler provides cold storage for farm products ready for market. Funds received through this grant will pay for a refrigerated truck, and parttime driver to collect produce from the three counties for consolidation, and will support trainings for producers in marketing/sales, product development, and packaging and labeling.
For more information, contact David Kendall/Madison County CES (828-649-2411), Jean Harrison/Yancey County CES (828-682-6186), or Jeremy Delisle/Mitchell County CES (828-688-4811).