Wapato coop gets Ag. Dept. grant

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded a $175,000 grant to Manzaneros Mexicanos De Washington Corp., an agriculture marketing cooperative in Wapato.

Only 10 organizations in eight states -- including Washington -- received part of the $1.4 million in available funding.

"We're very excited. We know there's a need," said Len Black, who helped sponsor the grant on behalf of the cooperative. "These are very sincere guys. We feel justified to have put that effort forward."

Black, chairman of the business program and executive director of Strategic Business Alliances at Heritage University in Toppenish, became acquainted with the farmers through his work with Students in Free Enterprise.

The student group works with the young and old, teaching them how to implement skills associated with free enterprise. Black said the cooperative formed about four years ago but wasn't functioning as well as it could have. It's comprised of roughly 100 Mexican immigrants who grow apples.

Black was told about the federal grant and applied for it, with the cooperative's approval. The funding will be used to train the membership how to organize and function as a cooperative.

It will also be spent on marketing research, helping the farmers form a business plan to maximize the return on their investment. SIFE will oversee the marketing, while Washington State University, the Northwest Cooperative Development Center in Olympia, and Community to Community in Bellingham will help the farmers with cooperative development.

"We'll try to find a way to help them take control of their own destiny in terms of packaging and marketing," Black said.

The grant is a part of the USDA Rural Development's Small, Socially Disadvantaged Producer program. Its purpose is to expand outreach to rural residents by giving small farmers and cooperatives equal access to USDA programs and services.

Money was awarded to groups where at least 75 percent of the governing board or membership has annual gross agricultural product sales of up to $250,000 in the last three years.

Grants can be used for product improvements, business plan development or economic development activities. The grants are authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill and are not funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal stimulus package.