USDA Awards $250,000 to Expand Michigan Meat Processing: The Cut to Buy Harvest-Line Equipment
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency announced that USDA is beginning to obligate funds under the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), including a $250,000 grant for The Cut Custom Processing LLC in Isabella County, Michigan, to expand its capacity and create new and better markets. Vice President J.D. Vance and Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins previously announced that processors in 40 states would receive $57 million through MPPEP.
The Cut will use the grant to purchase harvest-line equipment, including a hydraulic stunning box, restrainer, transfer station, hide puller, viscera handling system, carcass splitter station, inspection and wash platforms, rail and trolley systems, and hydraulic power components. USDA said the project will expand annual processing capacity, reduce production bottlenecks, support additional producer-owned livestock harvests, and create new full-time jobs.
"Under President Trump, this administration is delivering for the men and women who feed our nation. Now that these funds are moving, ranchers will have more options close to home, more competition will return to the market, and more of the value of American-raised beef will stay in rural communities," Secretary Rollins said.
MPPEP is managed by USDA Rural Development's Rural Business-Cooperative Service and provides grants to help eligible independent processors expand their capacity. USDA designed the program to encourage competition and sustainable growth in the United States meat processing sector and improve supply chain resiliency.
USDA said it has awarded more than $200 million to independent businesses under MPPEP, and that these projects have created thousands of jobs across the country. (Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：密歇根州一处牧场的肉牛群（资料图）。照片：Dwight Burdette，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Cattle grazing on a farm in Freedom Township, Michigan (file photo). Photo by Dwight Burdette, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
