NABC Awarded Three Grants Totaling $471,406

The Northwest Agriculture Business Center was awarded three grants totaling $471,406 this past fall to help support its work in bringing the farm to market throughout the Puget Sound region. These funds will enable NABC to provide assistance to groups of farmers seeking to develop cooperatives, secure new markets, and access needed capital for business expansion.  The funds will also support NABC’s assistance to ethnic minority and women-owned businesses, as well as work to support rural communities with access to food.

USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant

A USDA Rural Cooperative Development grant of $200,000 will enable NABC to support its work providing technical assistance to groups of farmers to form cooperatives or other mutually beneficial business structures, as well as supporting cooperatives and farmer-groups to capture new markets and access needed capital.  These funds also help NABC to support consumer-owned cooperatives with organizational development, business planning, and access to capital.

Cooperatives and farm-groups supported by this assistance include the Anacortes Food Co-op, Cascadia Cooperative Farms, North Cascade Meat Producers Cooperative, Puget Sound Food Hub, Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, the Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Co-op, the Twin Sisters Farmers Market, and a new cooperative formation effort in the South Puget Sound.

USDA Socially Disadvantaged Group Grant

NABC received a grant amount of $61,406 that focuses support on Latino farms and business owners in Skagit and Whatcom Counties.  Targeted projects include beginning computer courses, education and training in business management and computer skills for business management software, and cooperative training, outreach, and business development services. This past year in partnership with Skagit Valley College, NABC launched its first beginning computer courses with 21 participants earning certificates for completing the six, four-hour course sessions.  NABC has also provided market access and web site development assistance for Latino farm members of the Puget Sound Food Hub.

Whatcom Community Foundation Grant

This 3-year grant in the amount of $210,000 provides continuity and support of NABC’s cooperative development, support of minority-owned farms, individual farm assistance, and rural food access work in Whatcom and Skagit Counties.  These funds have provided for NABC’s staff to work collaboratively with other nonprofits and agencies, preparing grant request applications and pursuing projects objectives.  NABC and Cloud Mountain Farm Center recently collaborated with Sustainable Connections to win a three-year Washington State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant ($151,000) to support Whatcom and Skagit small and mid-sized farms to scale up and increase wholesale sales.  NABC staff assistance also supported nine farms that won $847,583 in USDA Value Added Producer Grants in 2019.