A newly formed cooperative in Mt. Pulaski has secured a $239,565 planning grant from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service through their Local Food Promotion Program.
The Central Illinois Farm-Fresh Enterprise Development Cooperative, or FarmFED Co-op, has been in development since March 2020, with the cooperative officially formed in January 2021, and a successful ownership campaign completed this September. The grant funding will enable FarmFED Co-op to undertake an advanced planning process, preparing the general manager and the cooperative board to build out their facility, develop a detailed sales and marketing plan, and establish protocols for operations.
The successful grant proposal caps off a flurry of activity within the cooperative. In mid-October, the cooperative’s interim board hired its inaugural full-time manager, Cindy Jackson of Blue Mound, who took over management of the project from interim co-managers Katie Funk and Jeff Hake of McLean. Also in mid-October, the cooperative purchased the former Johnson True Value Hardware Store in Mt. Pulaski, which will be renovated and more than doubled in size to accommodate the cooperative’s fresh food processing line, commercial kitchen, and office space. On November 10th, the cooperative launched its website, farmfedcoop.com, created on a volunteer basis by Rachel Berry, a cooperative owner and also the CEO of Illinois Hemp Growers Association. On November 18th, after securing $147,550 in funds via share purchases by 156 owners, the cooperative held its first Meeting of Owners in Mt. Pulaski and elected a 9-member board to replace the interim board that was formed earlier this year.
The Local Food Promotion Program requires matching funds for all applicants. FarmFED Co-op offered $50,000 in matching funds; $25,000 of those matching funds will come directly from the cooperative, and $25,000 was committed by the Economic Development & Planning Board (EDPB) of Mt. Pulaski. EDPB has already granted $48,500 since March 2020 to support the development of the cooperative project, either from their funds or those contributed by energy company Enel, which operates a wind farm in the city.
Funding will primarily go to paying for labor, with much of the manager’s position funded for the duration of the grant. She will work closely with Wendy Stuart of Food Works Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy specializing in food systems, who is also involved in similar Central Illinois regional food systems projects. According to the proposal, they will use the grant funding to complete the following project outcomes: “a completed plan to promote the cooperative; a landscape analysis that will identify the Central Illinois market for frozen local produce beyond initial targeted research; a detailed design and purchasing plan needed to build out and operate an efficient, food-safe, fresh produce processing facility; a protocol for ensuring transparency of values-based characteristics of produce; an analysis of the facility’s food safety needs; and the establishment of contracts with growers and buyers for the facility’s inaugural season.”
The cooperative plans to operate a fresh food processing facility that can bring in and freeze bulk quantities of produce grown by local farmers, such as sweet corn, peppers, carrots, or broccoli. Farmers can sell to the cooperative, or have their product custom-processed. The cooperative can then sell frozen local produce to local institutional buyers such as schools and hospitals or local retailers, using critical infrastructure to bridge a gap where local farms and larger buyers are currently unable to work together. The cooperative will also operate a licensed commercial kitchen in the same facility to be rented out to local food entrepreneurs.
“We are thrilled to put this funding to use and enter an exciting new stage of the development of our cooperative,” said new manager Cindy Jackson. “Just 32% of all proposed LFPP projects were funded this year, so it is a real honor to be able to put our plan into action thanks to this grant. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are now equipped to deliver on what we have been proposing since last year.”
To learn more about the cooperative, visit www.farmfedcoop.com, send an email to farmfedcoop@gmail.com, or follow along on Facebook and Instagram @farmfedcoop.
Comments