The Northwest Agriculture Business Center was awarded a second round of $225,000 in grant funding to support the development of agricultural-related cooperatives throughout the Puget Sound region.

The funding comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Department. The center will continue to provide business planning assistance and marketing support to producer-owned cooperatives and businesses it helped to form in 2011, as well as embark on four new cooperative development projects in the upcoming year.

In 2011, the center supported the formation of the Nooksack Valley Farmers Cooperative and the North Cascades Meat Producers Cooperative, two marketing cooperatives owned by Skagit and Whatcom County farms.

The center also supported the formation of the Seattle Growers Wholesale Market, a new floral and nursery marketing cooperative owned by Puget Sound region farms and growers from Alaska and Oregon.

New projects slated for the second round of funding include working with organic dairy producers in Whatcom and Skagit counties to diversify and bring certified organic pastured poultry to regional markets.

For details about the center, visit agbizcenter.org.