July 4, 2022

Six meat processors in Oregon, US, get portion of US$2 million fund

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) chose six Oregon, US meat processing business to receive a portion of US$2 million allocated by the Oregon Legislature.

The purpose of the Oregon Meat Processing Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant is to expand meat processing capacity statewide for Oregon-raised livestock.

"The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the serious need for greater resilience in our food systems, especially meat products," said ODA director Alexis Taylor. "The small number of existing meat processors in the state have long waitlists, making it difficult for Oregon’s producers to get their product to market.

"With the support of the Oregon Legislature, ODA is actively working to create more resilience in the supply chain for Oregon consumers and in turn, Oregon meat producers and processors so they can grow and meet local demand."

The number of Oregon Meat Processing Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant applications ODA received illustrates the demand for resources. ODA received 44 grant applications requesting a total of US$14 million in upgrades and expansions.

The six grant awardees represent federal and state inspection programmes and a mix of harvested livestock species from all over Oregon. ODA estimated that the combined increased meat processing capacity of improvements in meat processing estimated from the six grantees will make an additional three million pounds of local meat available to Oregonians 68,500 pounds per week each year.

The Oregon Meet Processing Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant was open to both meat processing businesses operating under United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection or planning to come under the new Oregon State Meat Inspection Program.

In 2020, the Oregon Legislature allocated funding to ODA to start an Oregon State Meat Inspection Program. The programme is under development and is expected to come online in July 2022.

- Oregon Department of Agriculture