U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced today (Wednesday) the first round of a new grant program aimed at increasing competition in the nation’s meat and poultry processing industry. According to Vilsack, the Biden Administration is investing $73 million through 21 separate grant projects in the USDA’s new Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). Vilsack says, “Since President Biden laid out a commitment at the start of the 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. 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 awardees include Region XII Council of Governments, which will receive a $15 million grant to create a statewide revolving loan program geared toward increasing the number of meat processing facilities in Iowa, diversifying ownership of processing infrastructure, improving resiliency to industry shocks, and much more. Tune into 1380 AM/95.1 FM KCIM tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 8 a.m. to hear from Region XII Executive Director Rick Hunsaker about the program and its expected impact locally and statewide. A complete list of MPPEP recipients can be found included below.
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USDA-MPPEP-Recipients
