At Tuesday’s Ionia County Board of Commissioners meeting, area farmers reported the Road Department's work to place ditches next to rural roads has made it impossible to access some of their fields. Cindy Chipman, owner of Gallagher Farms in Belding, said after her road was “ditched” by the Road Department, her farm could no longer safely move necessary machines around, potentially damaging their equipment or causing an accident.
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Rural Development Grants Boost Northern Michigan Businesses This project really couldn’t get off the ground without the additional funding from this grant. - Tori Beckett, Great Lakes Tissue Co.
February 15, 2021
Rural communities across the state are getting some financial help from a new round of state grants. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is awarding 20 different businesses a total of $1.7 (M) dollars. The goal is to boost their productivity and support rural communities.
The Rural Development Fund grants are landing in rural destinations– and most of them are grants worth $100,000. Sam Simpson is an owner at Harbor Hills Fruit Farms, which is also the parent company to Good Harbor Vineyards and Aurora Cellars. “We’ve been going through a really large growth phase in the last 5-7 years. We’re actually putting in 40 more acres of grapes this year.”
Journal Staff
A Bombardier is used to groom a trail on the Noquemanon Trail Network to make it easier for users to navigate the area. (Photo courtesy of the Noquemanon Trail Network)
MARQUETTE The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has awarded 20 Rural Development Fund grants designed to promote the sustainability of land-based industries and support infrastructure that benefits rural communities.
Several of those grants were awarded to local entities.
“Rural Michigan isn’t some strange, faraway, uninhabited land,” said MDARD Director Gary McDowell, in a news release. “Most of the people in this great state are either from or currently live in rural areas, so these grants have a real impact on the lives of people we know and in communities not far from our own. Rural Michigan has unlimited potential, but it needs opportunity. The Rural Development Fund grants help provide those opportunities.”