County awards $306K in grants to help local farm businesses expand
May 7—For years, Timothy Pry has had to turn customers away from his family cattle farm in Burkittsville. Many of them would come in search of steaks or a roast, but the farm only offered sides of beef and other huge quantities of meat, costing hundreds of dollars and weighing up to 500 pounds.
Many people don't have the freezer space or money for that, Pry said. But thanks to a recent grant from Frederick County, he is now starting the process of building a facility to store and sell much smaller cuts of meat.
"That's a whole other market that we have never tapped before," he said. "We're counting on it. We're very optimistic."
Pry's operation, Needwood Farms, is one of 14 that received money from the county's first-ever round of agriculture inno vation grants. Announced last fall, the program aims to fund projects that boost economic viability on local farms.
County Executive Jan Gardner announced the grant recipients at a Thursday press conference. The funds total $306,000 across the 14 operations, she said, and could create up to 28 new agriculture jobs in the county.
"The economies and the success of our small towns and our rural villages really are tightly linked and dependent on our having a thriving agricultural industry," Gardner said.
Robert Black, owner of Catoctin Mountain Orchard, received funding to cover about half the costs of a 24-foot trailer for selling apple-based desserts, both on the farm and at events or festivals around town.
He's worked at local auctions before, selling apple dumplings, cider and donuts from under a pop-up tent. It didn't work well, though: The tent blew off its feet during a heavy wind. Even with concrete blocks to weigh it down, he knew he needed a more permanent solution.
Black is looking forward not only to the revenue from the desserts, but from the "free advertising" he'll get when driving the trailer around the county.
At Stillpoint Farm near Mount Airy, Tom Barse is planning to use his share of the grant money to build a roadside market for selling fresh produce. He already operates a brewery on the farm, and he hopes to sell corn, tomatoes, lamb chops and more to visitors as well as passersby.
"We already have a captive audience, and it would be nice to send people home with stuff they can make their dinner with," Barse said.
That's exactly what the county hopes the grants will encourage, Gardner said: expansion and diversification of existing farm businesses. The grants will be offered twice per year, she said, funded by revenue generated when new deeds are recorded in land records. Recipients will get at least $5,000 each, which they must put toward projects that can be completed within six months.
At Thursday's briefing, Gardner emphasized the importance of agriculture to Frederick County's economy. She cited huge figures: The industry generates $150 million in sales across the county each year and nearly $1.5 billion in total economic impact.
But grants make a big difference on the micro level too, Liz Dodson said.
Dodson, who brews and sells kombucha under The Kombucha Lady brand, described herself as "a teeny-tiny little business." The grant money means she can purchase equipment to fill her own kitchen and processing facility instead of renting out a church kitchen.
Moving the operation to her own farm will make her product fresher and streamline the entire production process, she said. She'll be able to process her own herbs and have more control over her space.
Dodson said she was "over-the-moon excited" to receive the funding.
"It's a dream come true," she said. "And it's only because the public and the community has supported it."
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