PORTLAND, Maine — Greater Portland is among 12 regions that will have access to $1.3 billion in federal development funds targeted for farmers and local food providers.
Neal Allen, executive director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments, which wrote the application for the U.S. Department of Commerce program, said the designation stands to have broad impacts for the state’s agriculture sector, providing new resources to make infrastructure investments that would help producers bring their goods to market.
“It is potentially a game changer for the food industry in the region,” Allen said.
He said the grant will help foster greater collaboration and bring together opportunities to explore infrastructure improvements like new storage facilities, trade opportunities and workforce research.
The designation as a manufacturing community will allow the group of stakeholders organized through Allen’s organization to have special guidance and preference in competing for federal assistance in developing the region’s food manufacturing systems. Allen said the group will be working with a federal liaison to help seek out resources.
“We’ll have statewide impacts potentially, if we can really build a coordinated effort,” he said.
The commerce department said in a statement Wednesday that 70 communities had applied for the designation. The agencies to which the designees will have special access can offer $1.3 billion in federal economic development assistance, the department said.
The designation was awarded to communities that had strategies to develop workforce and training, advanced research, infrastructure and site development, supply chain support, trade international investment and operational improvement and capital access.
The other communities selected include: Southern California, Southwest Alabama, Northwest Georgia, Chicago, South Kansas, Southeastern Michigan, New York’s Finger Lakes region, Southwestern Ohio, the Tennessee Valley, Washington’s Puget Sound region and the Milwaukee region.