USDA Rural Development Recognizes Mississippi Valley Fruit, Inc.

Elgin fruit packing and distributing company awarded $200,000 grant

ELGIN, Minn., Oct. 17 – Rep. Gil Gutknecht joined officials from Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday to recognize Mississippi Valley Fruit, Inc. for receiving a $200,000 Rural Development grant.

    The grant comes from Rural Development’s Value-Added Producer Grant Program, and will be used to brand region-specific apple varieties.

    "I want to congratulate the great people at Mississippi Valley Fruit for receiving this grant,” Gutknecht said. “Thanks to programs such as this from USDA Rural Development, we're making a big difference in Southern Minnesota's economy. Grants such as this help develop and expand markets for local products grown right here at home."

    Value-Added Producer Grants may be used for planning activities, such as feasibility studies or business plans, or to provide working capital for marketing value-added agricultural products and for farm-based renewable energy projects. Eligible applicants are independent producers, farmer and rancher cooperatives, agricultural producer groups, and majority-controlled producer-based business ventures.

    “This has been an extremely successful program in Minnesota,” said Steve Wenzel, State Director of Rural Development in Minnesota. “Businesses like Mississippi Valley Fruit, Inc. are a major part of our rural economy.”

    Varieties of apples to be sold include Haralson, Zestar, Sweet 16, Fireside, Regent and Honeycrisp.

    “It is the rapidly changing landscape of the retail industry that drives our effort to transform the production and marketing of our regional apple crop,” said Fred Wescott, President of Wescott Agriproducts and Mississippi Valley Fruit, Inc. “The consolidation of the retail grocery industry into large multi-store chains make it difficult for small regional producers to participate in the market.  This project is about our regional growers giving up their individual identities to create a better whole and sustain the ability to participate in the apple supply chain.  The willingness of the regional growers to collaborate in this manner is the  key to preservation of our unique regional apple industry.  We still have a major challenge as to the source of the future apple varieties that will sustain our prestigious regional identity now that the University of Minnesota developed varieties are restricted in their availability to our Minnesota growers.  The current effort that is underway to establish an alternate source of new varieties is costly and it is these types of grant programs that enable our growers to get through these transitions.”

    Since 2001, Rural Development has invested about $3 billion throughout Minnesota. The agency has funding available for housing, clean water, essential community facilities, job creation, and other infrastructure projects.

    For more information on the Value-Added Producer Grant Program, call Robyn Holdorf at (651) 602-7812. For more information on Rural Development, call the local office in Austin at (507) 437-8247, or visit www.rurdev.usda.gov/mn.

Send mail to adam.czech@mn.usda.gov with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: May 12, 2009