Holyoke company receives grant to hire more local employees, help farmers

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – Local Holyoke company Clean Crop received a grant from the Healey-Driscoll Administration, one of 13 organizations across the state, as part of the sustainability focused manufacturing grant.

It was part of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing through the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative. The grants totaled $10 million, with Clean Crop receiving $1.2 million.

“In our facility, we use something called cold plasma to remove pathogens from seeds, reducing farmer crop loss without having any residues or pesticides,” said Daniel White, co-founder and CEO of Clean Crop Technologies.

The addition of more machines will increase the amount of seeds they can treat and reduce food loss. Expanding their manufacturing processes with more machines will create 50 jobs in the Holyoke area. Clean Crop also works with many students at the Springfield Technical and Holyoke Community Colleges.

It varies for different seeds but generally for about a pound of seed they treat, they are able to put anywhere from a third to a full pound of food back into the food system. Clean Crop Technologies is looking to build four more machines and staff them locally in the Holyoke area.

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