State Senator John Yudichak, I – Luzerne/Carbon, and State Representative Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, announced today $1,454,500 in grant funding through the Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program to Little Leaf Farms LLC to help in the construction of its new lettuce production facility that will be located in the McAdoo Industrial Park in Banks Township.

The project will consist of the construction of a new lettuce production facility, which will start with 8 acres under glass. The initial 8-acre phase includes land purchase, earthwork, erecting of the greenhouse and all technical systems, packing houses, irrigation, lighting and climate systems, with an anticipated opening of the facility in 2022.

Little Leaf Farms, which produces more than two million packages of lettuce each month at its facility in Devens, Massachusetts expects to hire approximately 50 people for the highly-sophisticated and automated greenhouse facility that will be located in Carbon County.

Jobs will include production associates and managers, as well as skilled positions such as maintenance technicians, seed and growing team members, shipping and receiving workers, truck drivers and administrative support.

“Today’s Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program funding announcement is about investing in creating good, family sustaining jobs for the people of northern Carbon County,” said Yudichak. “As we continue to recover from the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s essential that we invest in projects that will help sustain and even encourage economic growth.”

“This project is great news for Banks Township and will provide a needed economic boost. We are pleased it was deemed worthy of RACP funding,” said Heffley. “The lettuce growing facility is going to create good-paying jobs and help to broaden the county’s tax base, which benefits us all. I look forward to its completion.”

RACP is a Commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects.

RACP projects are authorized in the Redevelopment Assistance section of a Capital Budget Itemization Act, have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact, and generate substantial increases or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenues, or other measures of economic activity. RACP projects are state-funded projects that cannot obtain primary funding under other state programs.