By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced a new round of grants last month aimed at furthering the expansion of the food and agriculture industries in Michigan.

Grants were awarded to three small businesses: a specialty miller, an orchard in the southwest part of the state and a small creamery.

“Despite being relatively new, our Food and Agriculture Investment Program is already having a significant and positive impact on businesses in every corner of the state,” said Gordon Wenk, MDARD director. “These modest investments not only help create more jobs in the short term, but they also help food and agriculture businesses position themselves for long-term success. And that's good for everybody.”

Stonecrest Creamery of Onaway will receive a $40,000 grant toward the development of a cheese-making facility in a renovated building in Onaway. The project will include processing space as well as a retail operation at the abandoned, historical 1,800 square foot building in the center of downtown. Onaway is in the northeastern Lower Peninsula in Presque Isle County. The project requires a $450,000 investment in total.

Ridgeview Orchards of Conklin will receive a $50,000 grant to expand its asparagus packing and production line in Kent City. The project will require a $257,500 investment altogether and will lead to the installation of two new buncher and labeling machines that will make the asparagus packing operations more efficient.

Dan Dietrich, co-owner of Ridgeview Orchards, was surprised last week when told about the award. “Sounds good,” Dietrich said in a brief telephone interview, adding he wanted to check with MDARD to make sure he'd really gotten the grant. Dietrich said the asparagus bunchers will make his operation more efficient.

The bunchers are necessary these days due to the lack of available labor, said Peter Anastor, MDARD's director of agriculture development. Without them, it's going to get to the point where asparagus growers will have to shut down, he said. Michigan grows about 20 million pounds of asparagus each year.

Maiden Mills of Holland is the third recipient; it will receive a $10,000 grant to support a small-scale, sustainable powered grain processing facility in Holland. The business will invest $76,000 to upgrade its equipment and MDARD grant money will effectively serve as a partial reimbursement, Anastor explained. The upgrades will enable the company to supply baked goods to bakeries and restaurants in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Lansing.

 So far 26 projects have been awarded grants through this program, which only started last year.

“I really think these grants will help to grow food and agriculture in the state,” Anastor added. “These businesses are not big and haven't been recognized before, maybe because they didn't create enough jobs; but they did create some jobs. We use the incentive for large and small companies, but most are small to medium sized companies. This program is really a flexible tool to fund different kinds of projects.”

Grants under the program are awarded on a rolling basis and businesses may apply at any time.