Matthew Brichford and Leslie Jacobs receive a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to expand their on-farm cheesemaking and marketing operation, Jacobs and Brichford Farmstead Cheese, in addition to possibly adding a few new employees. (News-Examiner file photo)
A local cheese-making operation received some good news this week from the federal government.
Good news in the form of a $130,000 grant.
Jacobs and Brichford Farmstead Cheese of Fayette County was one of five recipients in Indiana which received the United States Department of Agriculture’s 2014 Value-Added Producer Grants Award, which is focused on helping rural businesses grow, diversify and create jobs.
The USDA awarded a total of $25 million in grant funding to 247 operations, such as Jacobs and Brichford’s, nationwide, according to a statement Tuesday from the agency. The funding comes from the USDA’s Rural Development’s Value-Added Producer Grant program.
The goal of the program is to help agricultural businesses grow through turning raw commodities into value-added products, expanding marketing and developing new products, according to the USDA.
“The funding we are announcing (this week) will have far-reaching, positive impacts in rural communities across the country,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement Tuesday. “The investments will help businesses create new products, expand their operations, and support local and regional food systems. The new Farm Bill expands this program to provide even more of these opportunities.”
The grants can be used for several purposes, such as financing the distribution of local and regional products, growing the development of a bioeconomy and supporting area food systems, among others.
The funding was made possible, according to the USDA, by the federal government’s 2014 Farm Bill.
For the Jacobs and Brichford cheese company, the $130,000 matching grant – the biggest grant received by an Indiana agricultural business in the 2014 award distribution – will be used to expand the on-farm cheesemaking and marketing operation, in addition to possibly adding a few new employees.
It is the first time the company received the grant, after applying for it three previous times, according to Matthew Brichford, who is co-owner of the company with his wife, Leslie Jacobs.
“Fourth time’s the charm,” he said. “I can do things to expand the business and grow the business. It’s a matching grant, so I have to match whatever we spend out of that.”
The grant is a huge boost to the operation, Brichford continued.
“We have financed all of our growth to this point out of our own pocket,” he said. “Hopefully, it will ease some of that burden.”
The grant award continues what has been a year of forward momentum for the company, which earlier this year was awarded the national 2014 Good Food Award in the cheese category in San Francisco.
Sales are picking up, according to Brichford, and the company is getting ready to expand its distribution range. It also hosts a farm market at its location at 2957 S. State Road 1, which features the company’s cheese along with locally-produced pork and other produce on Wednesdays through Sundays.
“We’re getting ready to be carried in Kroger stores in the Cincinnati and Indianapolis regions, and that is a big thing for us,” he said. “So to step up and meet the demand for that, we are creating two new cheeses ... we can use those (grant) funds to develop those programs.”
While Brichford said he envisioned the cheese operation to become as successful as it has in its short life, there is still more to be done.
“We’re not done yet,” he said. “You’re never any bigger than your dreams.”
Copyright © 2024 The Connersville News-Examiner