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Wisconsin Value-Added Producer Grants

The USDA announcing $1.69 million in Rural Development Value-Added Producer Grants for 15 Wisconsin businesses.  The program helps agricultural producers grow their businesses by turning raw commodities into value-added products, expanding marketing opportunities and developing new uses for existing products.  The grants are part of the USDA Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.  A total of $25 million is being granted to 247 businesses in 46 states, Puerto Rico and Micronesia.

Grant recipients in Wisconsin are:

• Heartland Cooperative Services, Dorchester: $200,000 to be used for value‐added marketing activities associated with expanding the sales of omega‐3 milk for omega‐3 cheese.
• Sweet Mountain Farm LLC, Washington Island: $10,000 to be used to brand and market organic honey to a new customer demographic for labor, packaging, labeling, certification, branding and promotional expenses.
• Jeth Farms, LLC, Wittenberg: $200,000 to be used for processing and marketing activities associated with dehydrated potatoes for pet food. Grant funds are expected to increase sales by over $1.6 million and create at least one full time and three part time jobs in central Wisconsin.
• Three Brothers Farm, LLC, Oconomowoc: $99,792 to be used to support working capital and marketing funds to process and market local vegetables, eggs and artisan meats to selected markets in Southeast Wisconsin.
• MacFarlane Pheasants LLC, Janesville: $200,000 to be used as a working capital grant to expand the sales of Mature French Redleg Partridges.  This would allow them to increase revenues.
• Penterman Creamery, LLC, Thorp: $200,000 to be used for the value added processing and marketing activities associated with Marieke Golden Cheese with the end goal of expanding sales and marketing. 
• Equinox Community Farm LLC, Waunakee: $20,270 to be used for working capital for the development of a canned products community supported agriculture product line. Products include a wide variety of seasonal vegetable and fruit products that are marketed through CSA, farmer’s markets, and local farm‐to‐table restaurants.
• 3 River Orchards, LLC $49,999 to be used to determine feasibility o fproducing and processing Aronia berries for a “superfood” product line that would increase Aronia product profitability and be marketed as a locally‐produced in Wisconsin.
• Austin’s Rush Creek Farm, LLC, Ferryville: $20,900 to be used to pay operating cost to produce market and distribute dilled beans from fresh green beans.
• Meuer Farm LLC, Chilton: $37,500 to be used for working capital to produce, package, label, and market value‐added products made from black walnuts, hickory nuts, honey strawberries and oats grown on the farm into healthy snacks, such as granola bars and mixed roasted nut snacks.
• Paul Burkhouse dba Foxtail Farm, Osceola: $47,500 to will be used to pay for labor, packaging and input cost associated with production of value added goods marketed through a Winter CSA. The cost will include marketing, packing and delivery cost of the value added product.
• Westby Cooperative Creamery $200,000 to will be used to expand the product line and market into organic Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt has about double the protein and a much different nutritional profile compared to regular yogurt. Organic Greek yogurt offers higher margins and prices, positively impacting the sustainability of this 111 year old farmer Co‐op.
• Spirit Lakes Native Products $35,000 to will be used to hire independent contractors to conduct a feasibility study and develop a business plan for a cooperative of independent Native American maple syrup producers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
• Fifth Season Cooperative, Viroqua: $197,696 to be used to support custom processing, labor, and other working capital and marketing needs as it expands its IQF (individually quick frozen) vegetable blends to institutional market channels. The Fifth Season Cooperative is a multi‐stakeholder cooperative with six membership classes representing the entire value added chain – from the producers, to the processors, to transportation, and to the institutional buyers in southwest Wisconsin, northeast Iowa, and southeastern Minnesota.
• Shepard Song Farms, LLC, Downing: $175,000 to be used to increase market penetration and profits utilizing undervalued adult, grass fed cull sheep. Instead of sending grass fed animals into the low‐value cull commodity market, mutton will be turned into high value sausages, jerky sticks, cooked gyro meats, braunschweiger, prosciutto, fajita strips, and spiced patties for the restaurant and consumer mail order markets. The grant will help to increase inventory, production, quality control, packaging, labeling,

A complete list of all USDA grants available here: