Southern Indiana Business Report
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Fourteen counties in Southern Indiana are benefiting from grant money to help rural communities create new economic development opportunities for farmers. The Indiana Economic Development Association Foundation announce Feb. 21 that the US Economic Development Administration has awarded a $100,097 grant to assist four regions in Indiana to fund implementation of the Rural Economic Development Model — a first-of-its-kind process.
Locally, the grant is targeting Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Knox, Martin, Lawrence, Pike, Spencer, Perry, Orange and Washington counties. The goal will be to examine the agricultural output in the regions in order to identify opportunities for creating new markets, applications or processing facilities that can enhance the local value of the agricultural output. The process aims to create new markets and income for local farmers, generate more local jobs connected to agriculture, and capture a greater source of revenue for the region’s communities.
The Rural Economic Development Model was created as a collaboration of the Indiana Economic Development Association, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, and the Purdue Center for Regional Development, with support from the Indiana Farm Bureau, Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Indiana Soybean Alliance, and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
“Lawrence County has a long history of farming and has always had a diverse and robust farming economy, said Wallace Branham, Lawrence County Commissioner, District 3. “With more than 147,000 acres of farmland bringing to market over $43,000,000 in product produced in 2017, Lawrence County still ranks just 76th in the state in gross sales. I am extremely pleased to see federal dollars that will benefit our farmers coming back into our community and the region. On behalf of the farmers I represent, I want to thank Radius Indiana, the Indiana Economic Development Association, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, and the Purdue Center for Regional Development for their assistance in securing this grant.”
The Rural Economic Development Model employs a proprietary technology developed by Purdue Center for Regional Development, and the 24-month process will be completed in the summer of 2023.