Wood Products Industry Equity Investment Grant Program (WPIEI)

MARBIDCO aims to help Maryland’s forestry businesses improve operations and efficiency, increase productivity and employment opportunities, and support new market development.

The WPIEI Program offers up to a 25% matching grant, up to the maximum amount allowed, for the purchase of equipment or facilities improvement. An ancillary objective of this program is to complement the financial services offered by private commercial lenders by leveraging funds to facilitate larger-scale projects that will enable industry growth.

This program will help Maryland wood fiber harvesters, processors and manufacturers increase production and utilization of locally sourced wood fiber, improve business operations and efficiency, and pursue new market opportunities.

• Tangible equipment purchases and facilities improvement costs.

• Commercial timber harvesters and primary or secondary wood products processors. Applicants can include sole proprietorships, partnerships, cooperatives, corporations, and LLCs. Grant funds and matching funds must be used for equipment and capital asset purchases that have a useful life of seven years or more.

Eligible Expenses: Grant funds and matching funds must be used for equipment projects and capital asset purchases that have a useful life of seven (7) years or more.  Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Wood processing equipment and facilities

• Sawmills

• Dry kilns

• Skidders and in-wood chippers

• Primary and secondary wood processing equipment

• Optimization systems for maximizing fiber yield recovery

• Shavings, pellet mills, and sawdust dryers

• Other capital equipment that is designed specifically for use in the forest products industry

MARBIDCO will match up to 25% of the total project cost, with a maximum grant award not to exceed $50,000. All equipment purchases must be made (and facility improvement contracts let) by no later than March 31, 2025. (Please note that any equipment or capital asset purchases made before July 1, 2024, are ineligible.)

Competition for this grant funding is expected to be high and it is anticipated that eligible requests will exceed the amount of funds available to distribute in FY 2025 (which is estimated to be approximately $500,000).

• Application

• An applicant should be sure to highlight in their applications how the utilization of their grant award would serve to increase the production and utilization of locally sourced wood fiber, improve business operations and efficiency, create/retain jobs, support the production of value-added products, and/or aid in serving new markets.

Applications from prior year grant recipients of the Maryland Wood Products Industry Equity Investment Program may be evaluated at a lower priority to first-time program applicants.