U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says his agency is investing $73 million in 21 grant projects through the first round of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). MPPEP delivers on President Biden‘s call to increase competition across the economy to help lower costs for American families. The announcement will expand meat and poultry processing capacity, which in turn increases competition, supports producer income, and strengthens the food supply chain to lower costs for working families and create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas. In addition, the Administration is investing $75 million for eight projects through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program, as well as more than $75 million for four meat and poultry-related projects through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan program.
These announcements support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain, which dedicates resources to expand independent processing capacity. As President Biden highlighted earlier this year, creating fairer markets and more opportunities for family farmers helps bring down prices at the grocery store.
South Dakota Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program recipients are:
- GROW South Dakota— $8,125,000
- GROW South Dakota will assist approximately 16 meat and/or poultry processors at an average loan of $500,000 per business and will inject needed capital into the processing industry and advance economic opportunities. The funds will improve the livelihoods of community residents through job creation and access to fresher meat and poultry products while meeting pollution mitigation by reducing food miles for transportation from local growers initially and ultimately to local markets.
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GROW South Dakota partner agencies are: Aberdeen Development Corporation, Brookings Economic Development, Campbell County Economic Development, Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship & International Business at Northern State University, Clark County Economic Development, Day County Champion Community, DeSmet Economic Development Corporation, Deuel Area Development Inc., Eureka Community Development Company, Faulkton Economic Development, First District Development Company, Glacial Lakes Area Development, GROW Spink, Ipswich Community Economic Development, On Hand Development Corporation, Pierre Economic Development Corporation, REED Fund, Sisseton Economic Development Corporation, South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, South Dakota Small Business Development Center, Webster Area Development Corporation, Wessington Springs Area Development Corporation.
- Planning and Development District III— $2,375,000
- District III will establish a financial resource that builds District III’s lending capacity while focusing on a chronic economic challenge, namely creating value added agricultural alternatives. The fund will give local processing facilities a tool to improve access to markets; enhance operational efficiencies; retain and attract employees; and remain competitive in a challenging business environment.
- The Planning and Development District III service area includes 3 Tribal Governments – Crow Creek, Lower Brule Sioux and Yankton Sioux; and 15 counties- Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jerauld, Lyman, Sanborn, Tripp and Yankton. It also includes .
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North Prairie Butchery LLC– $2.2 million
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North Prairie Butchery LLC will build a small beef and to build a small beef and pork combination plant with the capacity to process more than 100 animals per week. They currently ranch near Faulkton. This modern, federally inspected facility will offer livestock producers the ability for custom harvest, packaging, and labeling. In addition, the business will offer to purchase locally raised, market-ready cattle and hogs to supply retail and wholesale business. The plant is expected to be fully operational by early 2024.
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“Since President Biden laid out a commitment at the start of this year, USDA has worked tirelessly to give farmers and ranchers a fair chance to compete in the marketplace, which in turn helps lower food costs for the American people,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “By jumpstarting independent processing projects and increasing processing capacity, these investments create more opportunities for farmers and ranchers to get a fair price, while strengthening supply chains, delivering more food produced closer to home for families, expanding economic opportunity, and creating jobs in rural America.”
The investments announced are part of a series of financial assistance tools to support producers and lenders in increasing capacity in the food supply chain.
MPPEP was designed to support capacity expansion projects in concert with other private and public finance tools. Today’s announcement is the first round of funding made available through Phase I of MPEPP. Additional announcements are expected in the coming weeks. USDA will also soon begin taking applications for a new phase to deploy an additional $225 million, for a total of up to $375 million, to provide gap financing for independent processing plant projects that fill a demonstrated need for more diversified processing capacity. For more information about MPPEP, view the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program page.
The Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP) provides grant funding to nonprofit intermediary lenders who finance – or plan to finance – the start-up, expansion, or operation of slaughter, or other processing of meat and poultry. The objective of the MPILP is to strengthen the financing system for independent meat processors, and to create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain. In the first round of MPILP $75 million was awarded to eight lenders in seven states. Applications for second cycle ($125 million) are currently being accepted and are due December 31, 2022.
Through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan program (FSCGLP), USDA partners with lenders to guarantee loans to help eligible entities expand meat and poultry processing capacity and strengthen the U.S. food supply chain. Lenders provide the loans to eligible cooperatives, corporations, for profits, nonprofits, Tribal communities, public bodies and people in rural and urban areas. Since the FSCGLP was launched in December 2021, more than $250 million in loans have been guaranteed for projects in the middle of the food supply chain. Four of these, announced today and totaling more than $75 million, are for meat and poultry processing businesses.
For a full list of awards under these programs, visit: www.rd.usda.gov/sites/default/
The funding is one of many actions that USDA is taking to expand processing capacity and increase competition in meat and poultry processing to make agricultural markets more accessible, fair, competitive, and resilient, and builds upon the Department’s efforts to transform the nation’s food system. Additional information on all these programs is available at www.usda.gov/meat.
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