Wooster Local Foods Cooperative Inc.

Wooster Local Foods Cooperative Inc., a small agricultural cooperative based in Wooster, Ohio, is a federal grant recipient focused on rural energy efficiency and local food system resilience, with a 50-50 split between prime recipient work and sub-recipient roles under larger food-system development grants.

The cooperative operates as a for-profit corporate entity without contract prime awardee status; its federal footprint consists entirely of grant work. Its two prime grant awards total $715 thousand and span two distinct Department of Agriculture program lines. The first, a $409,781.50 Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Energy Efficiency Improvement grant from Rural Business Cooperative Services (awarded January 17, 2025, with completion targeted for January 17, 2027), funds solar panel installations, wind turbine systems, geothermal equipment, energy-efficient lighting, HVAC upgrades, and building insulation enhancements at the cooperative's facilities. The second, a COVID-19 Food Processing Relief grant from the Agricultural Marketing Service (awarded January 3, 2022, completed January 2, 2023), supported workplace safety investments, market pivots, facility retrofitting, transportation, and worker housing costs incurred between January 27, 2020 and December 31, 2021, with benefits flowing to employees of food processors, distributors, farmers markets, and producers.

As a sub-recipient, Wooster Local Foods holds funding awards under two larger federal grants: a sub-award dated October 2, 2025 from Rural Action Inc. targeting capacity expansion at Local Roots Market and Cafe through Producer Manager and Marketing Manager roles to serve small local food producers across northeast Ohio; and a January 30, 2023 sub-award from The Reinvestment Fund, Inc. under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Targeted Small Grants program, which supports fresh food retail infrastructure in underserved rural and urban areas. The cooperative's customer concentration is split evenly between Rural Business Cooperative Services and the Agricultural Marketing Service, both within USDA. One award (the REAP grant) reaches completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting a recompete signal.