WASHINGTON – The US Department of Agriculture is awarding two farming operations a total of $100,000 to create new products and improve their marketing strategy to raise brand awareness and increase sales. It is part of a $2.3 million program of federal funding in the state.
Organic Indoor Gardens of Poughkeepsie will receive $49,000 and Fishkill Farms will receive $53,625.
The awards “build capacity and resiliency for our farms,” said Todd Erling, executive director of the Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation. This program as well as others from the USDA helps develop “a robust local food system, reinforcing our rural-urban community relationships by working to make the connections up and down the value chain with market-based opportunities,” he said.
Fishkill Farms will use its funding for development of its Heritage Cidery. “We’re excited to embark on the research, planning and product development that will lay the foundation for a world-class cidery and tasting room on the farm, producing a distinctive craft cider with our own organic and sustainably-grown fruit,” said farm owner Josh Morgenthau.
