USDA Announces Grants to Strengthen the Food Supply Chain

On June 29^th, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is making investments to increase independent meat and poultry processing capacity, expand market opportunities for farmers and support a growing workforce in rural areas. USDA is providing 15 awards totaling $115 million in 17 states. USDA is providing five awards totaling $38 million through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) to help independent processors in five states. USDA is also providing 10 awards totaling $77 million under the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP) in 12 states. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is also providing seven awards totaling $4.5 million to community and technical colleges in seven states through the Meat and Poultry Processing–Agricultural Workforce Training (AWT) program. These investments will build a pipeline of well-trained meat processing workers and support safe workplaces with fair wages for workers.