Food Hub project lands $213,400

Story by Dan Hust
SULLIVAN COUNTY — June 21, 2013 — It’s the first of three steps, but Wednesday’s announcement of $213,400 for the proposed Sullivan County Food Distribution Hub was a huge step nonetheless.
“We could not be more thrilled with the award of this grant for our local food hub/distribution project in Sullivan County and the mid-Hudson region,” Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson said.
The federal Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) will be used to pay for property and an operator of the food hub.
Designed to enable local farmers and food producers to more efficiently access customers, the hub will provide transportation between the farms and buyers.
The Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corp. are jointly developing the hub and are in negotiations to purchase a building near Bloomingburg, said IDA Board Chair Ira Steingart.
The IDA is also working out an operations contract with Ginsberg’s Foods – an independent foodservice distributor in upstate Hudson – which will coordinate the Less Than Trailer Load (LTL) freight service to and from the hub.
The overall project is estimated to create 19 jobs and cost around $500,000, said Steingart, who anticipates hearing about the next grant – a $100,000 federal Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG) for technical assistance – by the end of this month.
The remaining monies are expected to come from the state through a competitive grant process, with winners to be announced in August or September, said Steingart.