Without access to processing facilities, Midwestern specialty crop farmers often miss out on the opportunity to transform their surplus harvests into shelf-stable, value-added products that bring in revenue year round.
Jeanine Seabrook, founder and owner of Glass Rooster Cannery in central Ohio, received two North Central SARE Farmer Rancher grants to partner with local farmers to generate income by processing excess produce that was otherwise going to waste. The grants allowed her to purchase the equipment needed to process over 40,000 pounds of excess produce into sauces, relishes and other canned goods, creating a revenue stream for farmers during the off season.
Seabrook’s second grant expanded the cannery’s capacity to partner with local farmers. Working with Glass Rooster Cannery improved the economic sustainability and production efficiency of those farms: they have since reduced on-farm waste and begun to sell shelf-stable goods year round.
A recent evaluation of SARE projects awarded between 2016 and 2019 found that building the leadership skills, marketing knowledge and processing capacity of participating farmers was key to the project’s success.
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