FLEMINGTON, W.Va. –Mountain State Co-hop, a group helping producers get their products on the market, will now be able to expand their services with the support from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Grant.
A formal check presentation was held Monday afternoon in Flemington to officially give them their award of $311,184. This money will go towards their headquarters in Flemington for dried good processing and Jarhead Farm in Alderson for thermal processing, which includes blanching, pasteurization and canning.
Chief of Staff with the Department of Agriculture Norman Bailey appeared on MetroNews Talkline Monday morning to talk about the presentation. He explained that the name “Mountain State Co-hop” originated from hops growers and was officially adopted in 2023.
Bailey said that this has played a key-role in connecting producers to markets since its inception.
“They’re able to take these producers and get them directly into market,” he said. “They have an online platform that they utilize to connect, as well as they’ve got contracts with state parks and other vendors that there able to put these products in the retail market for people to buy.”
Their marketplace, Appalachian Cellar, offers 330-value added products from over 30 producers, including jams, syrups, honey, coffee, and rejuvenating personal care products.
During the event, West Virginia chef Matt Welsch -head chef at Vagabond in Wheeling and executive chef for WV State Parks-, launched his new YouTube series “Recipes and Roadmaps”. This new series aims to highlight shelf-stable food items from local producers.
With this grant it will allow them to offer their services to businesses outside of their organization which in turn will help support a more refined aggregation and distribution effort.
Bailey noted that since West Virginia experienced the derecho, a windstorm that wrecked through the state in June 2012 causing downed trees and damage to homes, the middle of the supply chain has been fragile.
He said this grant will help the co-hop strengthen that part of the food system.
“Their bagging it, putting it into a product that can be sold at the shelf of a state park or online so it’s helping to finish that supply chain out so they can get those products sold,” Bailey said.
Bailey emphasized the importance of buying locally.
“We need to help our local economy, but also buying local supports them but also buying local is good health,” he said.
The co-hop is one of eleven projects that is getting awarded grants from the RFSI programs. With the program they were able to award $3.3 million dollars to different projects around the state.
Bailey said that the department is pleased to be able to get fund these initiatives.
“We’re excited about being able to provide funding to them that’s going to help expand their food supply, their outreach of that, they’ll be able to get them cold storage, help them with some mechanization with their production, so it’s going to help move the needle forward for agriculture,” he said.
Bailey encouraged residents to visit appalachiancellar.com to purchase products from local producers. He also urged producers to reach out to the co-hop for help getting their products on the market.