(Download a PDF of the news release.)
The N.C. Value-Added Cost Share Program (NCVACS) will distribute nearly $400,000 among at least a dozen agricultural producers in North Carolina this year to help grow their operations. Coordinated by N.C. MarketReady and funded by the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, NCVACS cost shares equipment expenses – up to 50 percent in some cases – for businesses that produce value-added agricultural products across the state. The next application deadline is Aug. 31.
In the spring, Charlotte-based Millchap Purveyors, LLC, was able to add equipment to increase production of its Polka Dot Bake Shop sweet potato crackers with funding from NCVACS. The new machinery is helping the company expand its line-up of sweet potato crackers beyond the original five flavors and, if all goes to plan, double sales of the crackers in 2011. According to Jennifer Chapman, co-owner of Millchap Purveyors and Polka Dot Bake Shop, her product is the “only baked cracker made with real sweet potatoes” in the country. The NCVACS award and equipment “sent us into the next atmosphere,” she said.
Millchap Purveyors’ value-added product (crackers) contains at least 50 percent of an N.C. agricultural commodity, sweet potatoes in this case. A value-added agricultural product is made from a raw, agricultural commodity (sweet potato, for example) that has been changed so that it no longer can be returned to its original state. Chocolate-coated pecan products and processed meats are two more examples.
Elizabeth’s Pecan Products – a producer of chocolate-coated pecan brittle, butter-roasted chocolate pecans and raspberry-flavored chocolate pecans – was outsourcing the chocolate-coating process for years, wasting time and money along the way, according to owner Alan Bundy. NCVACS cost shared roughly $32,000 to help Bundy purchase a 34-foot chocolate coating machine. As of June, Elizabeth’s is creating its chocolate-coated pecan products in house, right next to the grove where the nuts are grown near Clinton, N.C. Bundy says the company is already taking a look at chocolate-coated blueberries as the next potential value-added venture.
Jimmy Mays, owner of Mays Meats in Taylorsville, N.C., is increasing his operation’s meat processing capabilities by 25 percent this summer with the help of a $22,000 NCVACS award. Mays Meats is one of the largest inspected meat processing facilities in North Carolina and serves livestock producers across the state.
Mays was turning away business for months because he didn’t have the capacity to handle all of the meat orders, but now his business can process an extra 50 to 60 head of cattle each week. The company sells meat products to dozens of N.C. retailers and restaurants, from local “mom and pop shops,” barbeque joints and fish camps, to larger operations such as Biltmore Estate, Checkers Drive In, Inc., and Duke University Medical Center.
“Compared to the raw commodity, value-added agricultural products bring a higher price at market,” said Brittany Whitmire, NCVACS coordinator. “NCVACS helps North Carolina producers – who have very few options for financial assistance – expand into this more lucrative market.”
Since it was launched in 2009 to encourage more N.C. producers to apply for federal grant funding and to help grow their businesses, NCVACS has provided nearly $700,000 in direct cost share assistance to value-added producers and processors throughout the state.
The current NCVACS equipment cost share cycle is accepting applications until August 31, 2011. Guidelines and a list of frequently asked questions are provided online at plantsforhumanhealth.ncsu.edu/extension/cost-share. For more information, contact Brittany Whitmire, NCVACS program coordinator, at brittany_whitmire@ncsu.edu or 919-830-9557.
N.C. MarketReady is the Cooperative Extension outreach of the N.C. State University Plants for Human Health Institute at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. The campus is a public-private venture including eight universities, the David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI) and corporate entities that collaborate to advance the fields of nutrition and health.
Writer: Justin Moore
