NORTHAMPTON — Still recovering from a devastating fire that destroyed its barn and farm store at 7 Carver St., Red Fire Farm in Granby is receiving $500,000 from the state’s Farm Security Infrastructure Grant program, money that will go some of the way toward constructing a new building that could open about a quarter-mile down the road by the middle of next summer.

“We will build as much of the building as we can,” says Ryan Voiland, who owns Red Fire Farm with his wife, Sarah Voiland, estimating that the full cost of the plans could be over $1 million, even as they try to get their architect to find cost savings. “But we may end up with something that isn’t quite finished, a shell built for the retail area.”

Voiland said the new building, in a better retail spot away from the greenhouses, will also have space for some prepared foods.

“We’re trying to get a minimal amount of food service into the new building,” Voiland said. This, he said, will make the business stronger, and it will also be easier for people to walk to the pick-your-own fields.

Red Fire Farm’s award was among the largest in the region from the state grant program announced this week by the Healey-Driscoll administration, with $24.6 million in grants to 163 Massachusetts so-called “food-system enterprises.” These help sustain the state’s food production and distribution sectors, while at the same time work to ensure that all residents have access to fresh, healthy and local food.

“We’re very grateful to the state that they saw merit in our project,” Voiland said.

Others receiving significant grants were Barstow’s Longview Farm in Hadley, which received $500,000, and Teddy C. Smiarowski III Farm in Whately, which received $402,495.

At Barstow’s, the money will go toward renovations and equipment upgrades, which will include robotic milkers. The farm has already deployed the robotic milkers at the 200-year-old farm, providing a healthier, stress-free environment for the cows, while at the same time producing significantly more milk.

Smiarowski will use the money to construct a produce storage building.

The Food Security Infrastructure Grant program offers competitive grants managed by the Department of Agricultural Resources and designed to ensure farmers and other local food producers are better connected to a strong and resilient food system.

Sen. Jo Comerford said that about $3.4 million of the grant amount will support farmers and the food system in her Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district.

“FSIG is one of the strongest, most in-demand programs in state government,” Comerford said, adding that continued funding is a shared commitment by Healey and the Legislature “to fight food insecurity, tackle diet-related disease, and bolster constituents’ ability to access locally-grown food — all at the same time.”

Those receiving grants include both farms and other entities aligned with support of agriculture.

Grow Food Northampton received a $61,999 grant that will create a new “Farm and Food Access Hub” on the community farm that will be located in a flood-free area, after severe flooding in 2023 affected tools and equipment.

Michael Skillicorn, associate director for Grow Food Northampton, said the organization will build a lean-to and purchase a walk-in cooler for this project.

“It will be the center of operations for our land stewardship and farmer support, and a staging ground for our free local food distribution program,” Skillicorn said.

At Brookfield Farm in Amherst, which received $110,353, General Manager Kerry Taylor said the money will go toward purchasing a new refrigerated delivery vehicle to bring fresh produce both around the region and to six stops in the Boston area as part its Community Supported Agriculture, and updating the farm’s root cellar with improved insulation for better keeping of winter crops.

Having a root cellar that can keep produce cool is important as the farm confronts climate change, illustrated, Taylor said, by the warm weather as November begins. The farm has also depended on a cooler previously purchased using a grant from the same state program.

“We’re looking forward to efficiencies and improvements,” Taylor said, adding that infrastructure work on the root cellar, which requires a $36,000 match, will likely begin next March.

Other large grants went to Atlas Farm in Deerfield, which got $152,043, and Mapleline Farm in Hadley, which got $106,287. Other Hadley farms receiving grants included Joe Czajkowski Farm LLC, with $88,545, Wancyzk Produce, with $29,989, and Winter Moon Roots, with $58,274.

In Worthington, Sawyer Farm got $29,912, Justamere Tree Farm got $43,616, Four Corners Farm received $24,739, and Cure for Boredom received $23,769.

In Holyoke, Nuestras Raices received $78,000, while in Sunderland, Little Brook Farm got $24,900 and D.A. Smiarowski Farm got $32,451, and in Whately River Valley Farm got $57,338.

Both United Way of Pioneer Valley, with $9,348, and the Leverett Village Coop, with $12,677, were other local recipients.

Voiland said over the course of the 2024 season, Red Fire Farm has been limping along, operating from temporary sheds, including a childhood farm stand he once used, and also set up a large tent and took a section of the parking lot and regraded it. But there has been less refrigerated space and the farm hosted Community Supported Agriculture in another building that has been used to wash and pack produce.

He expects that the farm will continue to operate from temporary space for next season before produce sales move to the new building in 2026.

The state grant means a good head start for the new building, but Voiland said Red Fire Farm may eventually need more funding help from the community.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.