NORWICH – Though it may have offices in Madison County now, a business that sells and delivers farm fresh products directly to homes has its roots firmly planted in Chenango County.

Central New York Bounty (formerly Chenango Bounty) is what’s known as the biggest success story of the Chenango County Planning & Economic Development Committee, according to its membership. Each year, the government committee has up to $90,000 to disperse to non-profits and local municipalities for engineering and viability studies.

In 2008, Planning authorized $25,000 to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County for a study of whether such a delivery service of local produce could become a viable project. Since then, the service has continued to grow and expand, reaching more than $320,000 in sales to date over the past year and returning $245,000 back to the region’s producers, 50 percent of which comes directly to Chenango’s farmers.

“Chenango County gets more for a dollar here (with this program) than from anywhere else that I know of,” said Planning’s Vice Chairman Ross Iannello recently during a budget presentation of the Extension’s Ag Development Council.

The program is in its 125th week, has orders that average well over 100 per week and employs 12 part-time workers. Orders are packed for delivery from at facility located at Sunrise Family Farms in Greene.

“Many Chenango County farmers and producers continue to actively sell into CNY Bounty,” said Commerce Chenango Economic Development Specialist Jennifer Tavares, who also chairs the Ag Development Council.