Thanks to the tremendous generosity of donors near and far, North Leupp Family Farm (NLFF) has exceeded their fundraising goal of $13,124 in matching funds needed to keep the $26,268 Value Added Producer Grant for socially disadvantaged farmers they were awarded by USDA!
“The grant is scheduled to begin December 1, 2014,” confirmed the farm’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Stacey Jensen.
The community-based nonprofit, which supports about 30 Navajo families and provides fresh produce to local school children in a community with no supermarket, will use the grant funds to develop a business plan and feasibility study for producing blue cornmeal from traditional Navajo blue corn, building a solar-powered, portable cold-storage unit to reduce food waste and add value to harvested products, and establishing a mobile market to increase the farm’s customer base. In the long term, NLFF hopes to become a region producer of milled blue corn and provide jobs–and healthy food choices–to the local community.
“It’s so inspiring to see people give to see this happen,” says Native American Business Incubator Network mentor and entrepreneur Jessica Stago, who helped NLFF apply for the USDA grant.
We’ll keep you updated on the farm’s progress in the coming months.
You may still make a donation to North Leupp Family Farm here if you would like.
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