MDARD Grants Push Companies and Communities Into the Future
In partnership with: Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
North Bay Produce wants to transform its business to be more sustainable – and its goal is being realized thanks to a grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“The elimination of plastic in packaging is a major focus,” says Jon Wall, North Bay Produce’s vice president of operations.
This target compelled the company to apply for a Value-Added and Regional Food Systems grant from MDARD. The Traverse City business was awarded the $125,000 grant in 2019, enabling it to advance its eco-friendly processes in a game-changing way.
“The grant funds, used to set up a top sealing line, allow us to provide packaging that requires 30% to 40% less plastic than clamshell packaging,” Wall says. “The addition of our new equipment gave us the opportunity to create 13 more positions to support operations.”
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Ever-Growing ROI
That return on investment is by design. The state created the value-added grant program to help retain, expand, attract or develop agricultural processing in Michigan. MDARD Commodity and Grants Program Manager Heather Throne, who oversees four of the organization’s 11 grant programs, says the funds are helping businesses and organizations statewide in powerful ways.
“The grants have allowed the food and agriculture industry to expand and develop new products in Michigan sold by local retailers, distributed nationwide and exported worldwide,” Throne says.
MDARD’s Rural Development Fund Grants Program further stimulates the rural economy. “The fund aims to grow landbased industries and support infrastructure benefitting rural communities,” Throne says.
One of those aided communities is the village of L’Anse. It was awarded $45,000 from a 2018 rural development grant leveraged to develop a 110.5-kilowatt solar array as part of the community’s solar program (funded by a separate MDARD grant).
The village of L’Anse Manager Bob LaFave says the array and program increase access to income-qualified participants over a 25-year contract. “Eligible participants received up to 10 solar panels per family – lowering their energy bills and growing their access to solar power,” he explains.
The village’s supercharged initiative meets the needs of five commercial and 42 residential accounts, decreases upfront participation costs by $132 per subscribed panel and is projected to deliver $528 in cash credits per panel for non-income qualified participants over the contract’s lifetime.
“On top of the cost savings for all participants, our project gives residents access to renewable, locally produced energy while avoiding tree removal or siting issues on the properties,” LaFave says. “Our partners, MDARD, Michigan Technological University, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, Michigan Energy Options, and WPPI Energy made this program happen. If community solar can work in a rural town of 2,000 residents in the Western U.P., it can be done anywhere.”
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Funding Opportunities
rural development grant leveraged to develop a 110.5-kilowatt solar array. Photo credit: Bob La Fave
L’Anse is included in a long list of territories benefitting from MDARD’s Rural Development Fund Grants Program. In 2021 alone, MDARD awarded 20 recipients with $1.7 million in combined funding for rural development, while 15 grantees of the Value- Added and Regional Food Systems Grant received a combined $1 million-plus in financial support.
For North Bay Produce, the grant’s impact on helping businesses make sustainable strides is priceless. Wall says it has helped drive his company into the future while preparing his industry for the inevitable. “Those organizations that will not, or cannot, make the change will find that they become a bit uncompetitive,” he says.
MDARD encourages anyone motivated to enrich the state’s natural wealth and sustainable future to consider its complete list of grants and their respective grant-eligible territories by visiting its website, michigan.gov/mdardgrants.
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