Establishing a meat processing plant entails that you must understand and conform with the many rules and regulations, permitting, construction, and operating costs.
All these components joined together will factor in the cost of starting a meat processing plant business. As such, you should take your time to learn all you can regarding the industry. Don’t forget to contact other meat plant owners, trade groups, regulatory agencies, farmers, and customers.
You need to understand where your supplies (animals, packaging, equipment) will come from, the demographic that will buy your products, as well as what your competition is like. To accomplish this step, you also need to understand what your facility will look like and what your construction costs will be.
Once you are done with this, you will want to start seeking financing. Grant funding — from public agencies or private foundations — is rare, and businesses in this line are often left with no other option but to rely on bank financing and/or private investors. Nevertheless, there are a few public loan and grant programs that have been used by meat processors.
Available Grants to Start a Meat Processing Business
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Table of Content
Local Foods Promotion Program
The Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) over the years have made fund available for projects that develop, arrange, and boost local and regional food business endeavor. This grant can be utilized for the planning stages of starting or expanding local and regional food business endeavors or to improve or expand a food business that supports locally and regionally produced agricultural products.
Requirements
You qualify for this grant if you support local and regional food businesses that process, distribute, aggregate, or store locally or regionally-produced food products.
How to Apply
To apply, you will first have to register with www.grants.gov. You will also be expected to know your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number to register. Immediately roles have been assigned and authorized, and the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) will submit the application.
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Value-Added Producer Grants
The Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program is meant to encourage agricultural producers to venture into value-added activities to make new items, create and boost advertising opportunities, and bolster producer income. Meat processors are also allowed to apply as long as at least 51% of what they make is from their own livestock/poultry.
Requirements
Businesses that meet the qualifications Include:
- Beginning farmer or rancher.
- Socially-disadvantaged farmer or rancher.
- Small or medium-sized farm.
- The ranch structured as a family farm.
- Farmer or rancher cooperative.
How to Apply
You can submit an application online via www.grants.gov. To submit a paper application, send it to the USDA RD State Office in the state where the project will occur. Applicants can easily locate USDA RD State Office contact information at http://www.rd.usda.gov/contact-us/state-offices.
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Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant (IAG) Program
The Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant (IAG) Program was established to make available around $50 million to boost tribal nations’ food and agricultural supply chain sustenance by developing and expanding value-added infrastructure related to meat from indigenous animals like bison, reindeer, or salmon.
The essence of this program is to make finance available for projects that focus on boosting a local capacity for the harvesting, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of indigenous meats.
Requirements
- Tribal Governments of Indian tribes, their wholly owned arms, and instrumentalities, or joint or multi-tribal government entities
- Processing businesses possessed by non-tribal-governmental entities, including individual tribal members, are not eligible for funding under this program.
How to Apply
- Before sending in an application, verify that your organization is registered with Grants.gov and the System for Award Management (SAM).
- Adhere to the application instructions and submission requirements in the RFA and Grants.gov Application Guide (pdf).
- Ensure that all the required forms are submitted as part of a complete application package. Your application will be thrown out if all required forms are not submitted together.
- Submit application through Grants.gov.
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Local Meat Capacity Grant (Local MCap)
Note that this program will make available up to $75 million in grants to ensure that innovative projects designed to build resilience in the meat and poultry supply chain will see the light of day. The primary objective of this grant program is to support meat and poultry processors with smaller-scale projects, with an aim to boost processing availability and a wide range for local and regional livestock producers.
Requirements
- All business entities (irrespective of legal structure) that take part in meat and poultry processing, such as rendering animal carcasses or byproducts. Qualifying entities include Tribes and Tribal Entities, for-profit entities, non-profit entities, and State or local government entities.
- Private entities will need to be independently owned and operated, and all applicants will have to be domestically owned. Aside from that, applicants’ facilities will need to be physically located within the 50 States of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
How to Apply
- Before sending in an application, verify that your organization is registered with Grants.gov and the System for Award Management (SAM).
- Adhere to the application instructions and submission requirements in the RFA and Grants.gov Application Guide (pdf).
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Rural Energy for America Program
Keep in mind that this program makes available guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Meat processors can as well apply for new energy-efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing. Applications are being considered each quarter of the year.
Requirements
Eligible businesses are agricultural producers and small businesses
How to Apply
To apply, you must be pre-registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) and also have a Unique Entity ID. You do not need to do it again if you are already registered with these systems. You can also apply through your state USDA Rural Development office.
Mentioned above are grants to consider when looking to start a meat processing plant. You may not really need to hire a grant writer to submit a winning proposal, however, it could help. Have it in mind that experienced grant writers are known to possess a lot of clients with similar deadlines. As such, ensure to reach out to them well ahead of time if you plan to apply.