The USDA is investing over $12 million in grants through its Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program to expand independent meat and poultry processing capacity in Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota.
In Ohio, International Food Solutions is receiving more than $9 million to help redevelop and expand a vacant building in Cleveland into a plant with the capacity to process 60 million lb of poultry per year. The expansion will include cold and dry storage and two processing lines, and will create 227 jobs.
Grower-owned cooperative Michigan Turkey Producers is receiving over $1,500,000 to help upgrade its hot water system, wastewater treatment facilities, and refrigerated trailers as part of an expansion at its Grand Rapids plant. As a result of recent automation upgrades and continuing expansion, the plant will be able to double its processing capacity to 10 million turkeys annually.
 | USDA Working to Develop Circular Bioeconomies |
In Minnesota, Benson + Turner Foods is receiving almost $1 million to build a 6,788-sq-ft cattle and hog processing plant on the White Earth Indian Reservation. The grant will help the company achieve its goal of building a sustainable business that benefits the local economy by using locally grown livestock and providing new opportunities for producers to market their products by providing USDA-certified processing for them.
“At USDA, our goal is to provide all farmers, including new and underserved producers, with the opportunity to receive the assistance they need to continue farming, to build and maintain their competitive-edge, and to access more, new, and better markets,” says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Working together we can ensure American agriculture is as resilient as ever and will do so by implementing a holistic approach to emergency assistance, by lowering input costs through investments in domestic fertilizer production, and by promoting competition in agricultural markets.”
