{"id":236656,"date":"2026-07-06T13:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236656\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:04:09","slug":"us500000-program-supports-pennsylvania-concord-grape-growers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236656\/","title":{"rendered":"US$500,000 program supports Pennsylvania Concord grape growers"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has allocated US$500,000 through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) to purchase, process, and transport 350 tons of Concord grapes from 11 growers in the Erie region after their buyer cancelled contracts for the 2026 crop in March.<\/p>\n

The grapes will be processed by New York-based CK Natural into 100 per cent juice concentrate for distribution through Feeding Pennsylvania’s network of food banks. According to the department, each quart of concentrate will produce three 64-ounce bottles of juice.<\/p>\n

Secretary Russell Redding said: “PASS is a highly effective tool to provide a market for Pennsylvania farmers for their surplus crops while helping to feed our neighbors in need.”<\/p>\n

The emergency purchase is intended to provide an alternative market for the affected grape growers while ensuring the crop is utilised. PASS funding covers harvesting, processing, transportation, and packaging costs for agricultural products that would otherwise remain unsold.<\/p>\n

Feeding Pennsylvania CEO Julie Bancroft said: “This project exemplifies PASS’s purpose, supporting Pennsylvania farmers during unpredictable market downturns and weather challenges, while ensuring that healthy, local products reach families who need them most.”<\/p>\n

The grape purchase follows the cancellation of contracts for the 2026 crop and forms part of wider state efforts to support growers facing market and weather-related challenges. These include assistance following the termination of the US$13 million Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program and proposals for additional support after the late-April 2026 freeze.<\/p>\n

Since 2016, PASS has provided US$42 million to Feeding Pennsylvania to purchase surplus agricultural products from growers across the state, covering post-harvest costs while creating alternative market channels during periods of oversupply or market disruption.<\/p>\n

For more information:
Ashley Fehr
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Tel: +1 717 803 1452
Email: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>
www.pa.gov<\/a> <\/p>\n


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Frontpage photo:
\n \u00a9 Serezniy | Dreamstime
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\n Source: pa.gov<\/a> \n <\/p>\n


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\n Publication date:
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\n Mon 6 Jul 2026
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-236656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}