Steve Saltzman recipient of USDA Rural Development Award
by Steve Varnum
on May 9, 2024
CONCORD, NH (May 9, 2024) – The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s President and CEO, Steve Saltzman, recently received the Rural Development Under Secretary's Award presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for his efforts to expand meat and poultry processing across the country.
Saltzman was honored, along with eight others on the Rural Business Cooperative Service Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program team, for their work in building “a fairer, more resilient, and more competitive meat and poultry supply chain,” said Farah Ahmad, USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development.
“Access to new and better local and regional markets and new processing capacity gives farmers a fairer price, increases fresh food access for communities, and makes the nation’s food system more resilient,” said Ahmad. “Independent processing facilities give farmers and ranchers more options closer to the farm and make our food supply chain less reliant on a few large-scale processing companies.”
The Community Loan Fund launched its Sustainable Food Systems Program (SFSP) in 2023 and is administering USDA grants supporting local meat and poultry processing businesses.
“Farmers, and the local processors they work with, are the backbone of local food systems in Northern New England and nationwide,” said Saltzman. “We’re always looking for ways to support them, whether through our own loans and support or by delivering public funding that can help them survive and thrive. We have been glad to partner with the USDA to distribute these federal grants and look forward to continuing this partnership to help bolster our nation’s agricultural industry.”