Schnur’s Country Market in Butler has received a $39,000 grant from the state Department of Agriculture.

Co-owner Joyce Schnur said Thursday her family plans to use the money to purchase a new smokehouse, rather than making continued repairs on their 13-year-old smokehouse.

"We do a lot of smoked products,“ Schnur said. “We do our own meat sticks and baloney, and we do our own smoked ham, so we do a lot of that stuff, too.”

Agriculture deputy secretary Cheryl Cook said Very Small Meat and Poultry Processors Reimbursement grants, which totaled $1.58 million, were awarded to 20 processors in 15 counties. Schnur’s was the only processor in Butler County to receive funds. The grant was announced Wednesday.

“I’m just very thankful and grateful,” Schnur said.

Schnur said their business at 252 Bonniebrook Road had applied for a similar grant from the department in 2020, but didn’t qualify. This second attempt called for a more intensive process on Schnur’s part, with the department requiring more detailed information about quotes and other records from the business, she said.

This is the fourth year the grant has been offered through the efforts of the Wolf administration and the General Assembly in creating the first-in-the-nation state farm bill.

“I think the hometown areas just really like custom local butchers,” Schnur said. “My husband opened this in 1985. It’s just a small family business, but we do the best we can to help everybody.”

“I am a small country market in the middle of a rural town,” she said. “We service a lot of communities ... And they just love the quality of our products, and I just try to do the best I can just to service the people.”