Bread Riot Awards Next Step Grants to Three Local Farmers
Funds totaling $10,000 will help the owners of Elium Farm, Church Creek Farm and Correll Farms expand their production and reach.
As part of our mission to provide support to local farmers, The Bread Riot has awarded a total of $10,000 in Next Step Farm Grants to three small farmers in Rowan County to help them expand their production and reach.
Members from the Bread Riot board of directors presented checks to Randy Elium of Elium Farm, Jessica Long of Church Creek Farm, and David Correll of Correll Farms during a presentation at the Salisbury/Rowan Farmers Market on June 17.
The Next Step Farm Grant program is intended to grow small farms and increase the variety of farm produce and products available in Rowan County. The grants are awarded annually. Applicants are asked to describe what the “next step” might be for their farm, providing details about their current operation and their future goals.
Randy and Pam Elium, the owners of Elium Farm in Salisbury, want to develop a specialty market for freeze-dried berries as well as construct caterpillar tunnels to extend the growing season for some of their produce into the winter months. Started in 1978, Elium Farm produces strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, plus a wide variety of vegetable crops.
Jessica Long, owner of Church Creek Farm near Rockwell, plans to use the grant to help fund construction of a greenhouse that would extend the flower growing season and provide a space for educational opportunities. Once a small produce operation, Church Creek Farm now grows a range of specialty cut flowers, which Long calls “smiles on stems.”
David and Cheryl Correll, who own Correll Farms in Cleveland, would like to increase food safety in their operation with new stainless-steel tables for prepping and packaging fresh vegetables and extra-large sanitizable produce containers for transporting oversize items like melons. The Correll Farms property is recognized as a NC Century Farm and produces tomatoes, various mixed produce, potatoes, sweet corn, soybeans, beef cattle, and hay.
