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Grain train study gets $40K grant
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The largest used equipment inventory in the Mid-Atlantic is only a click away. Visit our website by clicking here or visit us at one of our 11 locations throughout MD, DE, VA and PA.
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Grain train study gets $40K grant
7.31.2007
FAIR HILL, Md. — Federal funding has been approved for a feasibility study for a rail line linking grain producers beyond Delmarva with poultry producers on the peninsula.
At the opening of the Cecil County Fair, U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., and USDA Rural Development State Director Marlene Elliott jointly announced the awarding of a $40,000 grant to help support a study for a new transloading rail site to be located in either Cecil or Harford counties.
The facility is expected to assist grain producers on the Eastern Shore and Central Maryland including portions of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
For farmers, the transloading facility would provide a much shorter and less costly truck transport option.
Wayne Stafford, president of the Cecil County Farm Bureau said, “Thousands of tons of soybean meal come to the Delmarva area by rail annually to feed our poultry and livestock. It only makes sense to put the infrastructure in place to move our soybeans to these processors. This should create competitive prices, which we lost with the closing of the Port of Baltimore.”
“This is about giving farmers options to help their bottom line so farming can continue to be viable in this region,” Gilchrest said. “We applaud the Cecil County Farm Bureau for putting together this grant application and we hope it’s the first step in making this a reality for farmers.”
The grant was presented to the county Farm Bureau, which has been a leader of the initiative, working in partnership with rail operators, grain dealers, farmers in Harford County and the Cecil and Howard County governments. If developed, it will be the only truck-to-rail transloading facility in the area that could bring competitive prices for the region’s soybeans.
“This is a return of the people’s money that we can all be proud of,” Elliott said. “Finding alternative solutions to keep agriculture sustainable for this generation and for future generations will help preserve the heart of America.”
USDA Rural Development is funding the project through its Rural Business Enterprise Grant program, which is designed to create or retain jobs in rural areas. It is estimated that the transloading facility could create up to 10 new jobs, but could retain jobs at hundreds of small businesses in the region that would benefit from the rail shipping option.
Additional information on USDA Rural Development programs is available by calling the Maryland and Delaware state office at 302-857-3580 or by visiting the Web site atwww.rurdev.usda.gov.