Thursday, December 7, 2023

BISMARCK, N.D. – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has announced Agriculture Diversification and Development (ADD) Fund awards for seven projects. The awards totaling $2,998,250 were approved at the ADD quarterly meeting Nov. 15 in Devils Lake.

The ADD Fund is administered by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. The fund was created to support new or expanding value-added-agriculture businesses that demonstrate financial feasibility, enhance profitability for farmers and ranchers, create jobs and grow North Dakota’s economy. Types of projects eligible for the fund include but are not limited to food production and processing facilities, feed or pet food processing facilities, commodity processing facilities, agriculture product manufacturing and animal production facilities. 

The following received approval:

North American Bison, LLC was awarded $500,000 to assist with safety and biosecurity of their New Rockford bison processing facility. Contact Jim Wells at 913-333-0658.

Rock Valley Feeders, LLP was awarded $500,000 to expand an existing beef feedlot to accommodate bison. Contact Cole Johnson at 701-321-0215.

Homeland Hempcrete was awarded $148,250 for costs associated with their new facility, to scale up their operation and reduce manual input. Contact Matt Marino at 701-426-3796.

Giant Snacks, Inc. was awarded $500,000 to purchase automated palletizing equipment and a conveying system. Contact Robert Schuler at 701-672-1330.

Epitome Energy, LLC was awarded $500,000 to assist with the construction of a new soybean crush facility near Grand Forks. Contact Dennis Egan at 612-325-1330.

Northern Lights Dairy was awarded $350,000 to assist with the purchase of equipment to haul milk. Contact Andrew Holle at 701-202-6049.

Billie’s Soap was awarded $500,000 to purchase equipment and renovate their building. Contact Billie or Dale Kellar at 701-610-6428.

ADD will hold its next grant application hearing on Feb. 28, 2024, in Bismarck. Applications for the February meeting must be received by Jan. 1, 2024.

For additional information, please visit https://www.ndda.nd.gov/add.