CORVALLIS, Ore. — USDA has awarded grants totaling more than $800,000 to two Oregon State University Extension small farms program projects.

The purpose of the grants is to strengthen Oregon’s small- and mid-scale food businesses.

The first grant, for $249,511, goes to OSU’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems to support Oregon food hubs. The second, for $591,951, goes to OSU’s Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network to create a stronger mid-tier meat supply chain.

Lauren Gwin, associate director of the Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems, said in a statement Tuesday that the first grant, from USDA’s Regional Food Systems Partnerships program, will equip OSU to work with eight Oregon food hubs.

A food hub, said Gwin, is a business or nonprofit that manages distribution, marketing, networking and aggregation of locally grown food. Food hubs share knowledge and tools with small- and mid-scale operations, helping those businesses, including farms, stay profitable and sustainable.

“The folks who run local food hubs are motivated to solve some of the food system’s most difficult challenges,” Gwin said.

Gorge Grown Food Network in Hood River is one of the hubs that will benefit from the grant.

“This project allows us the opportunity to actualize what we’ve been working toward for years: quality, fresh, local food for everyone,” Sarah Sullivan, executive director of Gorge Grown Food Network, said in a statement.

Sydney DeLuna, Oregon food hub network coordinator, told the Capital Press the other seven food hubs OSU will support through the grant are Bohemia Food Hub in Cottage Grove, Food Roots in Tillamook, North Coast Food Web in Astoria, Klamath Farmers Online Marketplace in Klamath Falls, Agricultural Connections in Bend, Genuine Wallowa County in northeastern Oregon and an up-and-coming food hub run by the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition.

“Exciting stuff,” said DeLuna.

OSU, she said, will use the money to support the food hubs in creating shared infrastructure, both physical and social, that in turn will serve farmers.

The second grant will go to OSU Extension’s Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, an organization that plans to use the money to offer training, business coaching and peer support to mid-tier meat businesses and farmers.

Rebecca Thistlethwaite, director of the network, said a special project called “Meat in the Middle” will build on OSU Extension’s existing Western Meat School, an online course that has become popular with direct-to-consumer producers.

Meat in the Middle will provide peer support, learning tools, coaching and virtual short courses for at least 1,800 farmers, ranchers, meat processors and butchers across the U.S. The goal is to help livestock producers and meat processors to scale up and reach new markets.

Thistlethwaite expects participants to learn important financial skills, build business-to-business relationships, write marketing plans and learn to grow their businesses while staying true to their values.