The U.S. Department of Agricultuire’s Rural Development is making available $150 million in grants to help meat and poultry processors expand their capacity and market options through the Meat and Poultry Processors Expansion Program (MPPEP).

 USDA is offering grants of up to $25 million each to fund projects aimed at:

• increasing demand for animals
• increasing opportunities for producers to access value-added markets
• improving the viability of an existing processing operation
• or otherwise expanding their processing capacity.

USDA encourages applications that benefit smaller and new and beginning processors, Tribes and tribal producers, socially disadvantaged producers, military veteran producers, and underserved communities.

Eligible applicants must process, or plan to process, one or more species subject to the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act. Applicants must also have, or plan to apply for, a Federal Grant of Inspection through FSIS or under the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, or a federal equivalent under a Tribal or state meat and poultry inspection program.

Informational webinars to discuss the MPPEP and application requirements are available on the MPPEP website. Questions may be submitted through the website or sent to MPPEP@usda.gov.

All application materials can be found on the MPPEP website or at Grants.gov. Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT on April 11.

Source: USDA