USDA lends co-op support with Rural Business Enterprise Grant
The Jackson County Development Council Inc.
(JCDC) presented NNFC with a USDA Rural Business
Enterprise Grant (RBEG) check for $327,863 on Aug. 8,
2001. JCDC wrote the grant proposal and was
responsible for its administration. The funds were
used to improve infrastructure and provide working
capital for NNFC.
“Sometimes it’s hard to pull
yourself up by your bootstraps
when you don’t have a pair of
boots,” Chuck Clemons, USDA
Rural Development state
director for Florida, told the
crowd at the check presentation
ceremony. “I am hoping
that today, by delivering this
check, we can provide our
small, economically disadvantaged
farmers with some bigsized
boots in the form of
equipment and operating capital
so that this goal can be
achieved.” Lunch served at
the event included NNFC’s
fresh collard greens.
NNFC used the funds from
USDA Rural Development and JCDC to purchase four
refrigerated trucks, which, along with two vehicles
previously purchased, give the co-op a small fleet of
refrigerated trucks. These vehicles are essential for
the success of both the cooperative and the Small
Farmer Distribution Network. The fleet of trucks will
help expand marketing opportunities, both geographically
and in volume.
The USDA RBEG program helps public bodies and
private, nonprofit corporations finance and facilitate the
development of small and emerging private business
enterprise in rural communities of fewer than 50,000
people. Grants may be used to establish a revolving
loan fund to provide “gap” financing to small and
emerging businesses, to purchase or lease equipment
and machinery, for technical assistance, such as marketing
and feasibility studies, and training for rural
entrepreneurs.
The small business being assisted must have less
than $1 million in gross revenues and fewer than 50
new employees. The Rural
Business-Cooperative Service’s
Specialty Lenders
Division, administered
through USDA Rural Development,
has a number of
flexible financial tools to
assist small and emerging
rural businesses. If you’re
interested in learning more
about how USDA can assist
rural businesses or cooperatives,
contact the USDA Rural
Development State Office
serving your community, or
visit: www.rurdev.usda.gov .
Several other government
agencies and organizations
have also helped
NNFC improve its operations.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service
has provided outreach to the co-op since its
inception for production and organization structure.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service provided
technical assistance in postharvest handling and
marketing. The West Florida Resource Conservation
and Development Council facilitated cooperative
agreements with USDA/AMS.
The Florida State Bureau of Farmers Markets provided
the cooperative through the Agriculture Venture
Services Program with lease incentives, assistance
with equipment needs and business plan development.
Heifer International assisted NNFC with goat production
and agricultural trials.
