BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A new state program is doling out nearly $20,000 in federal grant money for community and school orchards in North Dakota.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says the North Dakota Community Orchard Project aims to increase access to fresh, locally grown fruit, and also foster community spirit by bringing people together to plant and tend the orchards.
Goehring says the state Agriculture Department received 27 grant applications in the first year of the project. Grants were awarded to community groups in Aneta and Sheyenne, to the Elgin-New Leipzig school, to the tribal college in Fort Totten and to North Dakota State University for a project at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck.
