Today, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) welcomed the recent announcement by the Department of Agriculture that Portland’s River Ridge Farm and Upper Pond Farm in Lyme will each receive just under $100,000 to improve local and regional food supply chains from the state Department of Agriculture.
“These investments in local farms don’t just help the farms themselves acquire new equipment and materials to improve the quality of their products; they enhance the entire food chain, helping more locally produced and grown food reach shelves,” said Sen. Needleman. “This is excellent news for our local community and I’m grateful for our state’s investments.”
Portland’s River Ridge Farm will receive $99,784 to expand its cold chain infrastructure through the acquisitions of a refrigerated truck, forklift and walk-in freezer.
Lyme’s Upper Pond Farm will receive $99,105 to expand its produce and dry goods aggregation, processing and storage capacity with new equipment purchases including a vacuum packaging machine, a blast chiller, a roll-in freezer and roll-in dry crop storage.
The grants are administered through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, which is dedicated to improving food chain resilience and strengthening local and regional food systems.
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