More than a dozen specialty food businesses in Oregon will share a million dollar federal grant to expand production. USDA Undersecretary Jenny Moffitt was in Oregon Tuesday to announce the award, through a program borne out of the pandemic, "Where we saw more opportunity for local and regional producers and food processors to be able to connect and diversify supply chains, and bring more value to farmers." In Oregon, 17 small companies will receive a piece of the award. "This is the first amount of funding. We announced $420 million overall at USDA, for the Resilient Food System Infrastructure Program," says Moffitt.
Holly Ong is one of those recipients. She owns Sibeiho, a Portland-based producer of Singaporean sauces. Like many of her peers, she started in her home kitchen, working with local farmers, "And then, as we grow and start distributing more of our products, it's always difficult for us to find the capital to invest." Sibeiho is getting about $50,000 for what Ong says is critical equipment to allow her to make larger batches, "We need a kettle. A kettle costs $25,000. And then, we need this thing called a hopper. A hopper is another $7-10,000." Ong says the benefit of the funding surpasses her company, "The co-packers that I work with, we're going to share- pool our resources and share the equipment so that more makers can benefit from this equipment use." And, she says, larger batches of her product means more income for local farmers who supply her ingredients. "Having a grant like that, it really allows us to flex our muscle and think about possibilities, and think about growing in other ways that we weren't able to do before."
Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Lisa Charpilloz Hanson says each award benefits every link in the supply chain, "The other 16 projects are across the state, and they vary in size and scale depending on the grant and the type of businesses that they serve." ODA selected the recipients and will manage the USDA grants. Another $3 million will go out soon for Oregon producers with larger facility needs.
Photo: USDA Undersecretary Jenny Moffitt (second from left) meets Sibeiho owner Holly Ong (second from right), along with ODA Director Lisa Charpilloz Hanson (far right).
