253 Bushel Grain bin Project at Pear Point Farm

Project Goal:  Build food security and resilience for Community by increasing capacity to produce grains locally.  We envision a future where products such as flour, bread, oatmeal and animal feeds could all be grown and processed locally.   A more vibrant local economy with artisanal producers operating a local flour mill and new cottage businesses that utilize locally produced ingredients to create a wide array of value added products.

Since their first harvest in 2017, Pear Point Farm continues to increase production, but growth is organic and includes many growing pains.  Their fall 2019 harvest was a complete loss (25,000 pounds) due to unseasonal rains coupled with lack of infrastructure to dry and store the grain post harvest.  This could significantly increase our local capacity and thereby increase our local food security and resilience.   COVID-19 is currently highlighting the urgent need to increase food security, especially in regards to feeding the most vulnerable in our community. 

This proposal is for a 353 bushel grain bin.

One bushel of wheat makes 90 loaves of whole wheat bread.

Each loaf has 8 slices and makes 4 sandwiches.

This project could support a future where we could produce: 31,770 loaves of local bread per year or enough bread for 127,080 sandwiches.

Longer term we’d like to triple this storage capacity to 1000 bushels