The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for grants to help farmers, ranchers, and producers maximize the value of the items they produce. Value-added products are agricultural products that have been modified or physically changed to enhance their value. Examples include salsa made from tomatoes and energy produced from farm animal methane.
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USDA Helps Businesses Install Renewable Energy Systems
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides grants to agricultural producers and rural small businesses interested in saving money as they save energy. The Rural Energy for American Program (REAP), which aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that affects the climate, helps businesses purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements.
Continue readingValue-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Program Reopens
USDA Rural Development has announced it is accepting applications for grants of up to $250,000 under the Value-Added Producer Grant program. VAPG helps agricultural producers and related businesses enter into value-added activities related to the processing and marketing of new products.
Continue readingEnergy Efficient Lighting Slashes Costs for Deming Manufacturer
Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency
A new energy-efficient system installed at Compass Components Incorporated (CCI) is expected to save the Deming company more than 50 percent on its lighting bill. A $48,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America (REAP) made the upgrade possible in late 2011.
Lighting is critical at the company’s high-ceiling plant, where electrical components and wiring harness assemblies for buses are manufactured. CCI replaced the plant’s 630 fluorescent tube lights and fixtures with 48 T-8 Hi-Bay lights. In doing so, it removed and safely disposed of old ballasts containing liquid polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); these highly toxic materials haven’t been produced in the United States since 1979 due to their classification as persistent organic pollutants.
USDA Helps Businesses Upgrade Energy Systems
Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA Rural Development Agency
An energy-efficient water pump just went online at the San Miguel County ranch of Robert Quintana, and solar panels now power the Lifestyle Medicine office building in the county seat of Las Vegas, N.M. Both projects received partial funding from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) — a rural development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offsets the cost of replacing outdated or inefficient energy technology in eligible rural businesses.
The Quintana ranch’s new electric pump powers a circle irrigation system that provides water to 193 acres of farmland; REAP contributed a $5,439 grant toward the $21,000 system that replaced the old diesel pump setup. Fourteen solar panels were installed on the roof at Lifestyle Medicine in downtownLas Vegas, and they produce enough electricity to reduce the facility’s energy costs. Owner Dr. Bradley Kanode received a $4,854 grant to help install the $19,000 solar-power system.