Programs help Michigan food, agriculture companies to expand

Steve Cooper recently added a butter production line at the dairy processing facility in Ottawa County where he is general manager, a $50 million project. He hired 10 people. To keep pace as Michigan farmers produce more milk each year, Cooper's company, Continental Dairy Facilities LLC, needed more wastewater treatment capacity to handle the increased volume. It can churn out 300,000 pounds of milk powder and 42,000 gallons of cream every day. Continental Dairy and neighboring Fairlife LLC, which share a 100-acre dairy campus on a former General Motors facility in Coopersville, sought funding for their business expansions through traditional means, which generally means applying for incentives from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. But their project got a boost from another source — the state Agriculture Department, which is piloting its own business development incentives program this year to help food-related companies achieve growth in smaller projects that won't create enough jobs to meet MEDC requirements.  That boost is about to get bigger.The program will expand to $4.7 million starting Oct. 1 after funding was inserted into the department's 2018 budget.Most of it will go to companies wanting to expand their food and agriculture businesses, Holton said, Money also will be used to fund competitive grants for companies that want to add equipment or training, for instance, and to help companies export products.State agriculture administrators believe the new incentives will deliver a level of flexibility to help businesses that the department previously didn't have.