Federal funding proposed to help local meat lockers grow, compete

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - People are spending more money at the grocery store and much of that is because of rising costs of meat and poultry. It’s largely because of shortages and supply chain hiccups caused by the pandemic.

But the White House announced plans to help address this long-term, and it could impact Nebraska.

President Joe Biden announced he’s allocating $1 billion for the expansion of independent meat processing capacity. Something Chris Cramer, who owns Elmwood Meat Plant, said is desperately needed because he’s busier than ever.

“Normally we’d be booked three months out,” Cramer said. “Now, we’re booked two years out. We have people calling before the cows are born.”

Cramer said customers are telling him they’re turning away from meat on grocery store shelves because of prices and limited selections. They’re buying locally from him, even though his prices have had to go up too.

“There’s a lot of need for small, local processors,” Cramer said. “People like the idea of having an animal processed with people they know.”

But there aren’t enough of those local processors to meet the demand. According to the White House, four major packing companies control 70% of the meat-packing industry. The Nebraska Farm Bureau said adding more processors to the table is the main goal of this funding.

“It’s to grow the ability to process more livestock so there’s not as much of a bottleneck, to address competitive issues in the packer sector and allow for more redundancy when we have issues like COVID-19 and natural disasters, " Mark McHargue, president of the Farm Bureau said.

If there’s more competition, prices should be more stable and less susceptible to shortages and supply chain issues.

The money will be split among several programs, but overall will provide grants and loans to help new people start processing plants and existing plants to expand.

“It’s certainly a good incentive to grow this sector in Nebraska, there’s no doubt about that,” McHargue said.

Cramer said he’s not looking to expand himself because he’s close to retirement, but this money paves the way for the next owners of the Elmwood Meat Plant. He said there’s even an empty lot right next door waiting for new development.

“There’s a need for us and if someone could build a larger facility with the help of some of these grants,” Cramer said. “That’d be a real possibility.”