ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack on Thursday announced the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $9.6 million across the country and taking several other steps to help farmers, ranchers, processors and rural businesses diversify the nation’s meat supply.
“USDA is putting the needs of farmers, ranchers and consumers at the forefront of the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to strengthen the resiliency of America’s food supply chain while promoting competition,” Vilsack said. “USDA has undertaken a department-wide approach to coordinate ways to deliver more opportunities and fairer prices for producers, to give people access to healthier foods, eliminate bottlenecks in the food supply chain and ultimately lower prices for consumers.”
Sec. Vilsack announced 25 new investments to increase independent meat processing capacity – seven of which include a mention of lamb or sheep meat.
The department is awarding 23 Value Added Producer Grant program grants (six that mention lamb) totaling $3.9 million to help producer-owned companies process and market new products. USDA is also providing guarantees for a total of $5.7 million in loans to two companies (one that mentions lamb) through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program using American Rescue Plan funding. This program supports new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling and distribution.
Through these two programs, USDA is investing in 25 projects in California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Companies receiving funds that mentioned lamb or sheep in their project descriptions include:
- Bottomland Prime, LLC, Texas, $4,950,000 for acquisition of a custom meat processing facility.
- Five Marys Farms, LLC, California, $250,000 for processing and supplies.
- Hufendick Farm Inc., Illinois, $250,000 for expansion into a retail butcher shop.
- Apple Creek Farm, LLC, Maine, $250,000 to expand processing, marketing and sales.
- Todd Family Meats, Montana, $48,173 for marketing, processing and packaging.
- Studley Farms of VA, LLC, Virginia, $250,000 for marketing, processing and packaging.
- Widnor Farms, LLC, Washington, $249,521 for supplies, processing and marketing.
— USDA via ASI Weekly