(Council Bluffs) -- Iowa Third District Congresswoman Cindy Axne says she supports efforts by the federal government to boost small and mid-sized meat processing facilities that are built closer to farms.
Earlier this month, Axne joined U.S. Agriculture Secretary -- and former Iowa governor -- Tom Vilsack at Rustic Cuts Butcher Shop in Council Bluffs for an announcement that the USDA would use $500 million from the American Rescue Plan to help develop and expand regional processors around the country. Axne says the federal investment is what's needed to help smaller processors get their foot in the door in the cattle market. Axne says the money will also help family-owned processors, like Rustic Cuts.
"Rustic Cuts is exactly the kind of place that we should be promoting in this country," said Axne. "They move their product from their farm right to their shop and onto people's tables. They control every input of it to give them the best beef possible and to give them the greatest profitability. I met their kids and their kids are fired up and ready to go into this industry. They are on the cutting edge when it comes to labeling their products and giving people information. They're exactly the type of folks who will benefit from that $500 million from the American Rescue Plan."
Axne says the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for a more regionally-based processing infrastructure after large facilities were unable to adjust to virus-related backlogs.
"We are absolutely driving support for community jobs," said Axne. "Had we had more regional processing during COVID, we wouldn't have seen the supply chain disruptions that we've seen. We were culling our herds; we were killing our hogs and they weren't going to food, because our supply chain was backed up, not able to go into the market that it supplied, because of the COVID disruption -- whether it was restaurants or schools or grocery stores."
The USDA announcement came at the same time as President Biden signing an executive order that directs the agency to create a more competitive market for farmers and ranchers. Axne says the money will help to level the playing field between farmers, feedlots and packers.
"When we move to a regional support system for processing, we're going to stop that from happening," said Axne. "We're going to create an opportunity for our farmers to be able to grow their product and then create an opportunity for them to sell it without disruption, because they're not tied into those big packing plants that literally can't change on a dime when they need to."
In addition to the $500 million, USDA is also committing $150 million in funding to help small processors with unexpected costs incurred during the pandemic. The federal money is in addition to $750,000 allocated by the Iowa Legislature this spring to help butcher shops that employ less than 50 people. Axne says shifting to smaller, regional processing facilities allows the meat supply chain to be more responsive to large disruptions like a pandemic.
"Our regional processing plants are much more capable of innovation and flexibility and can adapt more quickly," said Axne. "They are in the communities, they're smaller and they have that flexibility without being tied to particular elements. This is going to really help with that disruption and keep people employed."
Prior to the announcement in Council Bluffs, Axne and Vilsack toured the site of a planned Cattlemen's Heritage beef processing plant in northern Mills County. When completed, the facility will process 1,500 head of cattle per day and is expected to open in late 2023.
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July 19, 2021 at 11:10PM
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Axne backs federal money for regional meat processing - KMAland
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