the City of Elgin was awarded a USDA local food grant today AND we are making national news. Our project is highlighted in today’s USDA blog entry and will be seen by thousands of news outlets and local food advocates. In the agricultural world, this is like a headline in the New York Times. Our work in Elgin is being recognized as a national model. It's very exciting.
- The name of the project is the Elgin Local Food Business Center Pilot.
- The project will help farmers, food entrepreneurs and institutional buyers (schools, hospitals, universities) develop skills to increase sales of Texas grown fruits and vegetables.
- Specifically, the project will help develop new products from Texas grown fruits and vegetables including sauces, fermented foods, and jams.
- We are honored to have been awarded this grant and are eager to work with USDA and our regional partners to complete this pilot project and move on to creating more quality jobs for our community.
- This project will (i) support Texas family farmers, (ii) boost our rural economy by creating quality jobs, and (iii) increase healthy food choices for our lowest income residents.
- Elgin, Texas is a leader in local food enterprise and with this award, we will be able to implement substantive change in our local food system.
- Grant amount is $95,130. Project is 18 months long. Our community and partners are contributing $32,631 in goods and services to the project.
2015 LFPP grant of $95,130 to provide technical assistance for value-added processing of local fruits and vegetables. Using a business plan focused on a value-added local food processing center, farmers from across the region will be involved in developing products that can be made and sold using local fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes, egg plants and zucchini are ripe for creating value-added products. Elgin’s food processing center researched products that capitalized on the versatility of their local produce to make and market locally-grown items such as, ketchup, fermented drink mix and Texas-grown, organic-sustainable salsa