Maine farmers and food processors will get $20 million in grant money to help businesses pay for needed upgrades to equipment and infrastructure.

Gov. Janet Mills announced the new grants Friday at Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon Falls, one of the 64 businesses throughout Maine that will receive grant funding. The money comes from Mills’ Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, funded by the Federal American Rescue Plan.

In prepared remarks, Mills said companies can use the grant money to pay for equipment and upgrades ranging from refrigeration units to new water or electric lines to expanded storage capacity.

“Our farmers and food processors have told us they can deliver Maine-grown food items to more people in more places if they can simply make some upgrades,” Mills said. “With these grants we can deliver that help. We can give them what they need.”

The grants are as small as $41,669 and as large as $500,000, with an average of just over $300,000. 

Joel Alex, the founder of Blue Ox Malthouse, which provides malt for breweries and distilleries in Maine, said he will receive a $500,000 grant, which he said he will use to upgrade the existing facility and expand the company’s storage.

“We’ve been at capacity for quite some time, and really restricted in how to move forward,” he said.

Alex started the company back in 2013. Today, he said, he has eight employees and is looking to expand.

Amanda Beal, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, said the grant program was inspired in part by the results of a recent survey of food producers’ needs in Maine. 

Most of the needs, she said, focused on smaller needs such as upgrades to electrical systems, new refrigerators or similar pieces of equipment.

“These may not seem like very exciting things, but it’s what they need,” she said.

In all, the department received 850 applications from companies throughout the state. Mills said the department is actively seeking funding sources to assist with the companies that did not receive funding from this round of grants.