Harvesting good (HG),a maine based public benefit corporation, and its partners including good shepherd food bank (GSFB),university of maine cooperative extension, agricultural processors and farmers,…

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.

Harvesting good (HG),a maine based public benefit corporation, and its partners including good shepherd food bank (GSFB),university of maine cooperative extension, agricultural processors and farmers, hannaford regional grocery chain and sodexo an institutional food service corporation, present this rfsp application to support the development of a value added mid-tier, regional food chain to supply fresh processed vegetables throughout the six new england states. Under this proposal, HG will purchase local vegetables (BROCCOLI) grown in northern maine from circle B farms (CBF),contract with food processors W.R. Allen (WRA) and wyman's to floret, blanche, freeze, pack and store, and sell IT initially through hannaford's 132 store retail chain and to sodexo's higher education clients. This application supports the implementation of new england's only regional vegetable processing operation to operate at scale. This grant will support HG's administrative costs, development of a marketing program, training and technical support for farmers and processors, and distribution of frozen vegetables throughout the foodbank network. This public/private partnership will generate over $8.4M in new revenue to the agriculture sector, create 52 full and part time jobs, use underutilized processing facilities, establish a new market for maine's vegetable growers, and extend the season for crop growth and processing. HG will invest over $2.5M to purchase state of the art processing equipment, renovate processing facilities, and supplement technical support. This project opens the door for maine's local vegetables to reach new england's regional markets year-round.