FARMINGTON – Bussie York has been awarded a $15,510 federal grant to help make the Sandy River Farms’ operations more energy-efficient.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, announced the grant Tuesday in a statement.

York said he applied but didn’t know he had been awarded the grant until the Sun Journal called. The grant is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.

The Yorks will use the money to put in an energy-efficient corn storage system and drying system.

“We’re anticipating using a lot more corn,” he said, and need more storage.

The farm has been using a propane system for 30 years, he said, and it will be the first such system in Maine.

It will cost 50 percent less to dry the corn than it does with propane, he said.

“We’re really excited about it,” he said.

The equipment is expected to arrive from North Dakota on Monday, Sept. 11.

It will hold 15,000 bushels of corn, enough to heat 100 houses, York said.

They already have storage for 15,000 bushels, he said, but they need about 30,000, which includes servicing the farm.

The family has created a new business, Agra-Energy, and are in the process of selling corn stoves and furnaces, he said.

They sold the corn-burning furnace to SAD 58 in northern Franklin County.

Family members have been to school to install the stoves and furnaces, he said, and they will open a showroom at a space at the former Strawberry Field’s nursery center on Farmington Falls Road in the near future.