Biden-Harris Administration Announces Final Awards for Historic Investment in Meat and Poultry Processing

WASHINGTON, September 19, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is awarding more than $35 million in grants to 15 independent meat processors in 12 states to increase processing capacity, boost competition to expand market opportunities for American farmers, and create jobs in rural areas. This is the latest investment in the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), funded by President Biden's American Rescue Plan, which was first launched in 2022.

The investments announced today also advance the program Investing in America of the President and support the Administration's Action Plan for a fairer, more competitive and more resilient meat and poultry supply chainwhich devotes resources to expanding independent processing capacity.

“Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has advanced a sustainable vision for agriculture that prioritizes the needs of hardworking producers and small business owners who keep rural communities strong,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Through investments like these, USDA is working to give farmers and ranchers a fair chance to compete in the marketplace, which will increase local food options and lower grocery costs for American families.”

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Since the program began, USDA has awarded 74 grants totaling more than $325 million through MPPEP to increase processing capacity and strengthen the food supply chain.

Many projects are still under development and have already increased the processing capacity of these facilities by more than 800,000 cattle, 14,000 hogs, 23 million chickens and 5 million turkeys per year. In addition, these projects serve nearly 900 additional meat and poultry producers and have created more than 1,200 new jobs.

As part of today’s announcement, the funding will help build new processing plants, create hundreds of jobs, provide local producers and entrepreneurs with better business opportunities, and provide consumers with more options at grocery stores. For example:

• America's Heartland Packing is receiving a $10 million grant to build a large beef processing plant outside St. Louis, Missouri. The plant will be LEED certified and will supply beef to domestic and international wholesalers, retailers, pet food companies and food manufacturers.
• Mark's Custom Meats in Pennsylvania is receiving a $750,000 $ grant to double the size of its current meat processing plant, serving 15 additional producers and creating four new full-time jobs.
• Damian’s Craft Meats is a Latinx-owned processor using a $4 million grant to build a new facility in southeast Michigan to serve local producers of cattle, hogs, goats and lambs. Damian’s will offer fee-for-service processing and will also purchase animals from local producers at competitive and transparent prices.

Prizes will benefit people living in Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania.

Details on all prices announced are available online.

Providing fair, competitive and transparent markets

The MPPEP is one of several actions USDA is taking to expand processing capacity, create more revenue streams and market opportunities for producers, and improve the competitive landscape in food and agricultural markets. Under the landmark order President Biden's Address on Promoting Competition in the U.S. Economy and as stated in our competition report, USDA led a comprehensive USDA approach and participated in a whole-of-government initiative to improve the competitive landscape in food and agricultural markets.

Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, USDA has invested more than $1.4 billion to support new and expanded small- and medium-sized processing facilities and to create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain. Additional information on all of these programs is available at www.usda.gov/meat. Additionally, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has hosted Small Plant Roundtables to help small businesses comply with federal regulations. Between 2023 and 2024, 11 roundtables were held to provide an opportunity for communication and help small plant owners and operations succeed.

USDA also supports greater transparency in the marketplace and, in February 2024, finalized a new rule that only allows the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in USA” label to be applied to FSIS-regulated meat and poultry products that are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the United States, which better aligns with consumer understanding of what the label means.

Over the past three and a half years, USDA has put forward a series of critical new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to promote transparency in contracts and tournaments; addressing injustices and deceptions in payments to broiler farmers, poultry farmer grading systems and capital improvement schemes; to forbid discrimination, retaliation and deception in various circumstances; and provide greater clarity on unfair practices and competitive harms. With two final rules, two additional proposed rules, and more pending, USDA is reinvigorating century-old fair and competitive marketplace laws to give more power to producers and ranchers.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs, and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety, and health care; and broadband internet access in rural, tribal, and high-poverty areas. Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans every day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system by increasing its focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fostering competition and fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in every community, creating new markets and revenue streams for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in clean energy infrastructure and capacity in rural America, and committing to equity across the department by removing systemic barriers and creating a workforce that is more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

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