Recently, Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced that processors in 40 states would receive $57 million through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), this includes more than $2.6 million for ten Oklahoma processors to expand their capacity and create new and better markets.
“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 communties,” said Secretary Rollins.
“Today’s announcement delivers on President Trump’s promise on promoting fair competition in livestock markets and expanding market access for Oklahoma Producers,” said Rural Development State Director for Oklahoma Zachary Swartz. “This investment promotes increased opportunities for our Oklahoma ranch communties, while ensuring the American family can continue to have fair pricing for American grown products at the dinner table.”
In Oklahoma, the following processors have received MPPEP grants:
· QVM Co. LLC dba Quartz View Meat Co. will receive a $84,683 grant to replace aging, labor-intensive meat processing equipment with an Omet F9B ATSX ixer/tumbler, an Omet Automatic Hand MAS unit, and an AU700 Automatic Clipper. These equipment upgrades will automate mixing, handling, and packaging functions, reduce manual labor and production interruptions, improve product consistency and worker safety, and increase processing throughput within the existing facility and workforce. The project will help reduce the current processing backlog, improve operational reliability, and strengthen access to meat processing services for livestock producers in southwest Oklahoma and northwest Texas.
· R&D Meats will receive a $181,124 grant to purchase a VC999 M-Series Rollstock Thermoformer and an Addfield TB LP Incinerator with Bin Tipper to increase processing capacity, improve operational efficiency, enhance food safety, and strengthen waste management. The thermoformer will improve packaging speed, consistency, shelf life, and throughput while expanding custom packaging capabilities and reducing production bottlenecks. The incinerator will provide a biosecure, on-site solution for disposing of animal byproducts, reducing landfill waste, lowering disposal costs, and supporting regulatory compliance.
· Watson Farms Meat Processing and Market, LLC will receive a $211,994 grant to purchase a roll stock packaging machine, stuffer, and double clipper to increase processing efficiency, improve packaging quality, expand value-added meat production, and reduce waste. The project will enable the facility to produce 13 new value-added product lines, including snack sticks, sausage products, jerky, bacon, ham, and smoked meats, while providing retail-grade packaging that improves shelf life and product quality. The equipment will increase processing throughput, support growth in livestock processing volumes, and help local producers capture greater value from their livestock.
· Rainey’s Custom Butchering will receive a $245,760 grant to establish an integrated value-added processing and packaging system that increases operational efficiency, reduces waste, improves food safety, and expands production of consumer-ready meat products. Grant funds will be used to purchase steam-jacketed kettles, a roll stock packaging system, cooler/freezer equipment, a patty machine, freezer basket trucks, and related equipment. These investments will support production of bone broth, rendered tallow, lard, patties, and other value-added products while improving storage, packaging, workflow, and utilization of each animal processed.
· Dennis Processing LLC will receive a $26,250 grant to strengthen local meat processing capacity, improve operational efficiency, and enhance facility resilience by purchasing a plastic and fiber drum truck, a chrome heavy-duty wire cart, and a backup generator. The equipment will improve the safe and sanitary movement of materials and products, reduce workflow bottlenecks, support waste handling and sanitation, and ensure uninterrupted operations during power outages. These upgrades will increase throughput, protect food safety and product integrity, reduce downtime, and enable the facility to provide more reliable processing services to local livestock producers and customers.
· Cherokee Nation will receive a $127,500 grant to to purchase a rollstock packaging machine to improve packaging efficiency, increase processing capacity, and reduce production bottlenecks at its USDA-inspected meat processing facility. The equipment will automate and standardize packaging for beef, pork, lamb/goat, bison, and chicken products, including steaks, roasts, ground beef, bacon, bratwurst, snack sticks, and summer sausage. The investment will increase cattle processing capacity from six to eight head per day, improve food safety and product shelf life, and support continued growth while serving regional livestock producers and wholesale and retail customers.
· Eastern Oklahoma State College will receive a $135,299 grant to increase meat-processing capacity, expand value-added product production, and enhance workforce training through its Meat Processing and Food Safety Lab. Grant funds will be used to purchase equipment including a filling and linking system, carcass splitting system, patty machine, meat slicer, labeling system, rail scale, freezer, ice machines, hog scalding and dehairing machine, and a Scantron scanner. These upgrades will improve processing throughput, product consistency, storage capacity, traceability, and student training while expanding services for livestock producers and custom-processing customers.
· Whiskey Creek Cattle, LLC will receive a $499,526 grant to improve many elements of its processing line, ranging from slaughter to cutting to cooling to packaging, ultimately facilitating more access to high-quality processing for an additional 60 regional producers.
· Osage Nation will receive a $426,612 grant to support the installation of processing and cold-storage equipment to address operational bottlenecks and improve the company’s
ability to produce finished goods on behalf of regional producers. As a result of this project, Osage Nation expects to nearly double its throughput and dramatically expand the number of value-added product lines it can create.
· American Heritage Beef Company, LLC will receive $688,985 grant to improve their layout and efficiency of their processing floor while purchasing new equipment such as a cooler, a bandsaw, and a mixer/grinder. They expect to add 45 new producers to their network and create four new value-added product lines.
USDA has awarded more than $200 million to independent businesses under the MPPEP program. These projects have created thousands of jobs across the country. Learn more about USDA’s investments to strengthen the meat and poultry supply chain at usda.gov/meat.
For more information on USDA Rural Development investments in rural America, visit the Rural Data Gateway. The Rural Data Gateway is an online tool that strengthens USDA Rural Development partnerships with rural people, entrepreneurs, government officials and Congress by making Rural Development’s investment data accessible to the public. For more information about USDA Rural Development programs, visit http://www.rd.usda.gov.
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