Zeeland, Coopersville businesses awarded state agricultural grants
Two Ottawa County food and agricultural businesses will scale up operations and add dozens of jobs following nearly $200,000 in state funding announced by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
OTTAWA COUNTY — Two Ottawa County food and agricultural businesses will scale up operations and add dozens of jobs following nearly $200,000 in state funding announced by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The state grants — $100,000 to Big Bear Honey LLC in Zeeland and $99,347 to Gavin Orchards LLC in Coopersville — are part of a $2.3 million statewide rollout aimed at strengthening regional supply chains and removing processing bottlenecks for independent producers.
The awards, distributed through MDARD’s Underserved, Value-Added, Regional Food Systems and Supply Chain Grant program, target operational hurdles that often keep small growers from moving products from regional markets onto retail shelves.
In Zeeland, Big Bear Honey will use its $100,000 grant to build an automated filling and packaging line, a move projected to create four full-time and two part-time jobs.
“We’re incredibly grateful to MDARD and the state of Michigan for investing in Big Bear Honey," said Kelly Bonnema, the company's co-founder. "As more Americans are choosing honey as a natural sweetener, we see a tremendous opportunity for Michigan agriculture. This grant will help us expand our production capacity, create jobs here in West Michigan, and purchase more honey from Michigan beekeepers as we grow.
"We’re excited to help build a stronger market for Michigan honey and take Michigan-made agricultural products to customers across the country.”
To the north in Coopersville, Gavin Orchards will spend $99,347 on a multi-camera optical sorting and sizing machine to automate fruit grading and cut down on waste, creating 22 full-time jobs and nine part-time positions.
"Smart investments in our food and agriculture systems boost business growth, build stronger communities and improve quality of life for Michiganders," MDARD Director Tim Boring said in a statement.
While state officials framed the program around broad economic metrics, local operators say the funding addresses a quieter crisis facing independent food producers: access to commercial co-packers.
For small food companies, third-party co-packers — contract manufacturers that bottle, package, and label goods — are often the only way to scale up.
But most contract facilities require minimum runs of 10,000 to 20,000 units per product, a threshold out of reach for growing outfits, according to Sarah Sherman, vice president and director of operations at Grand Rapids-based BLiS Gourmet, which also secured a $100,000 MDARD grant to expand its bottling capacity.
"That was a deterrent for us," said Sherman. "I'm assuming that was a deterrent for them as well."
Sherman met the team from Big Bear Honey while setting up booth space at a trade show in New York last year. Between handing out sample bottles in Manhattan, the two Michigan producers realized they were running into identical roadblocks.
BLiS Gourmet had been shipping raw ingredients to co-packers in Michigan and Louisiana to bottle its specialty hot sauces, but rising freight costs made the arrangement unsustainable.
Both companies concluded that bringing processing in-house was the only viable path forward, with or without grant dollars.
"We really said, we just have to do this," Sherman said. "With or without the grant, it's time to move forward. So we applied, and we got it, and we were so stoked to see Big Bear Honey on the list too. That's our little neighbor from the trade show."
For Ottawa County, where agriculture remains a primary driver alongside heavy manufacturing, the state funding arrives as local operations face compounding pressures from shipping costs and tight labor markets, Sherman said.
While larger corporations maintain legal staff and grant coordinators to capture state funding, smaller growers often rely on word-of-mouth within regional trade networks to find available programs.
"A lot of small businesses don't know these grants are out there," Sherman said. "You might qualify for something you never even thought of."
— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org.
