Scotian Gold: Building Capacity for a Competitive Edge

A BRE success story from Kings Regional Development Agency

In the spring of 2009, David Cudmore, President and CEO of Scotian Gold Cooperative (apple co-op owned by 55 local producers) was busy preparing for an upcoming board meeting where discussions would take place about potentially expanding the facility. The need for expanded storage capacity was evident, but during times of recession it was unclear if the money could be attained to complete this project.

The Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Program allows relationships to develop at the local level and provides the BRE Officers with the current knowledge needed to act quickly when opportunities arise. When the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) was announced in 2009 it was intended to quickly fund shovel-ready projects in order to boost the economic climate. The details of this new funding opportunity were all that was needed for BRE Officer Colby Clarke from the Kings Regional Development Agency to know which business should be contacted and apply for the CAF.

Mr. Cudmore received a timely phone call from Colby Clarke outlining the opportunity and explained that it would align with his expansion plans. As it turned out, the CAF was just the added incentive needed to make the expansion plans viable. The CAF provided Scotian Gold Cooperative with $950,000 towards their project and was instrumental in seeing the fresh fruit controlled atmosphere storage capacity expanded by 4,400 bins.
“Our business has gone through many expansions over the last number of years and knowledge of this program was instrumental for us to continue our expansion. We are appreciative of the efforts of the Kings RDA and feel the work they are doing is instrumental to the growth of Kings County” says David Cudmore.