Concept Processing, LLC

Concept Processing, LLC, a small agricultural cooperative based in Melrose, Minnesota, is a prime recipient of federal grants supporting local and regional food systems development, with secondary exposure as a sub-recipient under Minnesota Department of Agriculture pass-throughs. The vendor has no federal prime contracts or contract vehicles; all federal activity is grant-funded work within the agricultural and rural development space.

Concept Processing operates as a for-profit agricultural cooperative with a modest federal footprint anchored in the Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Cooperative Services. The vendor has received two prime grants totaling $500,000 under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP, CFDA 10.175) — a $250,000 project grant awarded September 6, 2022 (ultimate completion September 6, 2024) and a second $250,000 grant awarded August 13, 2025 (ultimate completion August 13, 2027). Both grants fund coordination and expansion of local and regional food systems in Minnesota through direct and intermediary producer-to-consumer marketing channels, value-added product development, and farmers market infrastructure. Concept Processing also holds a sub-recipient role under a Minnesota Department of Agriculture pass-through award dated November 22, 2024, directing funds toward purchase and installation of automated milk-filling equipment, refrigerated milk trucks, and walk-in cooler infrastructure at the company's seventh-generation dairy farm. This equipment expansion targets increased capacity for value-added bagged milk products to serve wholesale distributors and farm-to-fork programs in Minnesota public schools and universities.

Activity is sparse but consistent — one award per year across 2022, 2024, and 2025 — with combined dollars obligated at $813,000. One award (the initial 2022 prime grant) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and faces renewal or recompete in that window. The vendor's federal engagement is narrowly concentrated on agricultural development and rural food system programming rather than broader federal procurement categories.