Cape Girardeau County farm to receive federal grant

Bangert Family Farmstead, 448 County Road 638 in Cape Girardeau County, has been notified it will receive a $36,000 Value Added Producer Grant (VAPG) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program.

The USDA, in an announcement Wednesday, said the money will be used to "evaluate the feasibility of processing and marketing packaged poultry derived from (Bangert's) diversified family farm in Cape Girardeau."

USDA's Missouri state director Kyle Wilkens said the grant to Bangert is part of a more than $34 million package distributed among 25 projects in the Show Me State.

Bangert Family Farmstead, according to its Facebook page, currently produces pastured non-GMO chicken eggs, pastured non-GMO chicken meat and non-GMO quail meat.

Among other USDA grants in the region was a $62,010 award to Castor River Farm in Dexter, Missouri, for evaluating the feasibility of processing and marketing packaged rice.

"The programs USDA Rural Development offers for rural residents and businesses are advantageous in assisting rural communities so that they can thrive and grow," Wilkens said in a news release. "Today's announcement will create or save nearly 400 good-paying jobs and economic opportunities for rural Missourians."

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