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Agricultural Innovation Center

Massachusetts Agricultural Innovation Center Grant Awards for 2008

$989,174 in grants were awarded to explore farm-based renewable energy, conserve water, boost aquaculture, and assist slaughterhouse destroyed by fire. These will help the Massachusetts agricultural sector diversify and compete in the marketplace.

The ten awards include the Commonwealth’s second round of Agricultural Innovation Center grants, as well as a $250,000 Farm Viability Program grant for the Adams Farm Slaughterhouse, which burned to the ground in December 2006.

A “virtual” agency with no staff or office, the Agricultural Innovation Center builds partnerships between the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR) and industry support and trade organizations to develop agricultural enterprises that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable. DAR received 17 proposals worth just over $2 million for FY 2008 Agricultural Innovation Center grants and, following review by a multi-agency team, selected nine for funding. The state grants require substantial matching funds from industry and other sources.

“Projects funded in part by Agricultural Innovation Center grants are:

  • University of Massachusetts — Amherst ($149,263). Through its “Building Model Networks Among Dairy, Vegetable and Floriculture Farms to Grow and Use Shelled Corn for Greenhouse Heat” project, UMass will provide the infrastructure to create networks between users and producers of corn-burning technologies, and educate farmers about corn-for-fuel and other sources of renewable energy.
  • Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association — East Wareham ($81,543). This project’s goal is to understand the actual water needs for growing Massachusetts cranberries, to develop more cost effective and environmentally-responsible water management that reduces water use and pesticide leaching into groundwater, ponds and rivers.
  • Community Teamwork, Inc. — Lowell ($50,000). The grant will continue the efforts of this Lowell–based nonprofit organization - in conjunction with the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project and New England Small Farm Institute – to attain regulatory approval for a Mobile Poultry Processing Unit to meet current and growing demand from small- to mid-scale poultry producers for on-site processing.
  • Massachusetts Fruit Growers’ Association — North Amherst ($95,000). The “Massachusetts Orchard Production Upgrade Program” will help ten orchards establish modern, high density “tall spindle” apple orchards.
  • Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture — South Deerfield ($50,000). The organization’s “Extend the Season” program will research the demand and interest for winter storage crops among both buyers and growers, and provide business plans to farmers interested in extending their growing season.
  • Southeastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Consortium — Barnstable ($48,368). This project will field test seedless oysters on a statewide basis and report findings to DAR. Massachusetts shellfish farmers will be encouraged to undertake a trial use of seedless oysters, which grow faster, have year-round marketability, and are less prone to disease.
  • Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative — South Deerfield ($150,000). Through the “Expanding the Production, Distribution, and Sales of Locally Grown FSC Certified Forest Products” project, the Cooperative intends to extend its acreage and the amount of timber harvested.
  • The Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands — Phillipston ($25,000). The “Defining Green Energy for Massachusetts” project will secure a market for responsibly-harvested wood fuel by creating a searchable database of biomass users and preparing educational materials about the value of using biomass.
  • University of Massachusetts – Amherst ($90,000). This project will educate Massachusetts growers about how to produce crops safely and consistently in the wake of several fresh produce-associated public health crises across the country.
In addition, DAR approved the following Farm Viability Program grant:

Adams Farm Slaughterhouse—Athol ($250,000). Funds will be put toward rebuilding a USDA-inspected slaughterhouse in Athol that was destroyed by fire in December of 2006. The rebuilding of the Adams Slaughterhouse will restore critical USDA-licensed slaughter capacity to Massachusetts that will provide Bay State meat producers with in-state meat processing services.

For fiscal year 2008 the Agricultural Innovation Center is working with Berkshire-Pioneer RC &D, Inc. along with USDA and the Natural Resource Conservation Districts to develop a Massachusetts Farm Energy Program. This program is designed to perform farm energy audits and to assist in the implementation of these audits on agricultural operations within the commonwealth. The goal of this program is to create strategies and opportunities for the agricultural operations in the Commonwealth for energy conservation and to tap into sources of renewable energy.

For more information, contact Daniel Rhodes, daniel.rhodes@state.ma.us, 617-626-1728.



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