Kelsey Green, Our Friendly Allies
The Processing Facility Project
Grant Award: $8,000
Kelsey started Our Friendly Allies six years ago, and with the help of two previous AgOptions grants, has expanded to three greenhouses to grow certified organic herbs, medicinal herbs and vegetables. Exceeding her financial goals in the past two years, Kelsey has used her last AgOptions grant to outfit a processing facility in order to add infrastructure to bring her business to the next level. The new facility will accommodate over 1,500 pounds of fresh herb at a time, which is five times her current capacity.
Kelsey had outfitted her processing facility with sheetrock, metal walls, a heater,
fans, and electricity. Having outgrown her drying shed, the new facility will enable Kelsey to hold five times the amount of fresh herbs that she can currently hold in her drying shed.
Our Friendly Allies sells herb starts, veggie starts, dried herbs and value-added products at festivals and ships dried products all over the country through their website. With this new facility, they will now have the ability to secure wholesale accounts.
She attributes the success and growth of her business to the assistance she received from the WNC AgOptions program.
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