By somd.com Staff Writers
CALIFORNIA, Md. (October 25, 2010)—Friday’s Creek Winery, of Owings, Calvert County, is slated to receive $18,287 from the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation (MARBIDCO) to assist in the purchase a wine tank and a special destemmer to assist with wine production. The funds are part of a total $198,599 in matching grants being provided by the Maryland Value Added Producer Grant – Capital Assets Option (MVAPG-CAO) program. The
recipients must provide a 100 percent cash match.
The MVAPG-COA program was established to encourage Maryland’s agricultural producers to expand or diversify their business operations by installing capital assets to make or support a product that is “value-added,” according to a MARBIDCO press release. This is a new program that was launched early this summer.
Twenty-two project requests were submitted in a competitive process and thirteen were funded.
The twelve other projects funded include:
— Alice Ferguson Foundation ($3,998) – Matching funds to renovate an outbuilding to process chickens and build a chicken tractor in Prince George’s County.
— Amoss Mill ($20,000) – Matching funds to restore a 1790 gristmill and bring it back into production to grind cornmeal and flour in Harford County.
— Black Ankle Vineyards ($20,000) – Matching funds to build a 5,000 square foot barrel aging and case storage building for the winery in Frederick County.
— Cedar Hill Farm ($20,000) – Matching funds to purchase equipment to process raw milk cheese on a dairy farm in Harford County.
— Clemonsville Christmas Tree Farm ($2,500) – Matching funds to purchase a wreath-making machine and construct a warming hut and nature walk on a Christmas Tree farm in Frederick County.
— Costa Ventosa ($8,364) – Matching funds to purchase wine processing equipment at a commercial winery enterprise in Worcester County.
— Fiore Winery ($15,000) – Matching funds to purchase new distillation equipment to assist in wine processing at a winery in Harford County.
— Misty Meadow Farm ($20,000) – Matching funds to construct an on-farm creamery and retail facility for ice cream production and sales in Washington County.
— Red Rock Enterprises ($20,000) – Matching funds to purchase a state-of-the-art processing equipment to facilitate firewood production in Garrett County.
— Schauber’s Lumber and Sawmill ($17,000) – Matching funds to purchase a chemical dip tank for timber processing in Queen Anne’s County.
— Shepherd’s Manor Creamery ($20,000) – Matching funds to purchase a pasteurizer and pasteurizer/incubator to assist in raw milk cheese production at a sheep dairy and creamery in Carroll County.
— Terrapin Station Winery ($13,450) – Matching funds to purchase a destemmer crusher and stainless steel air pump to assist with wine production at their vineyard in Cecil County.
MARBIDCO is a quasi-public economic development organization chartered by the State of Maryland in 2004. Its mission is to help Maryland's farm, forestry, and seafood businesses to prosper through the provision of targeted financial and other services that helps to retain existing resource-based industry production and commerce, promotes rural entrepreneurship, and nurtures emerging food/feed/fiber businesses.