The Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service awarded a $991,221 Project Grant under the Regional Food System Partnerships program to Harvesting Good of Maine. The grant will support the development of New England's only regional vegetable processing operation to supply fresh processed broccoli to grocery and institutional food service customers throughout the six-state region year-round. Harvesting Good will purchase broccoli from Circle B Farms and contract with food processors W.R. Allen and Wyman's to floret, blanche, freeze, pack and store the vegetables. The processed broccoli will then be sold through Hannaford's 132-store retail chain and to Sodexo's higher education clients. The grant will fund Harvesting Good's administrative costs, marketing program development, and farmer and processor training and technical support. It will also support distribution of frozen vegetables through food banks. This public-private partnership is expected to generate over $8.4 million in new revenue for agriculture and create 52 full- and part-time jobs while utilizing underused processing facilities and establishing a new market for Maine vegetable growers.
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