The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Development (RD) Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS or Agency), requests applications for the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 04/11/2022
Grant Size: $25 million
Grant Duration: 48 months
Details:
The Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) provides grants to help eligible processors expand their capacity. USDA Rural Development designed the MPPEP to encourage competition and sustainable growth in the U.S. meat processing sector, and to help improve supply chain resiliency.
The primary goal of the MPPEP is to provide more and better processing options to producers as soon as possible. The secondary goals relate to the strategies to fulfill the primary goal and make lasting impacts, and include:
- to increase shackle space available to producers;
- to support development of value‐added products available to consumers;
- to support proposals that provide fair prices, fair wages and new and safe job opportunities that keep profits circulating in the rural community; and
- to increase diversity in processing options in terms of business model approaches, geography, and availability
- to underserved communities.
Grant funds can be used to expand processing capacity by supporting activities such as:
- Building new – or modernizing or expanding existing – processing facilities
- Developing, installing, or modernizing equipment and technology
- Ensuring compliance with packaging and labeling requirements
- Upholding occupational and other safety requirements
- Modifying facilities or equipment to protect food safety
- Paying for voluntary grading services on value-added processed products
- Offsetting costs associated with becoming an inspected facility
- Supporting workforce recruitment, training, and retention
Funding Information
- The maximum award amount is $25 million, or 20 percent of total project costs, whichever is less. There is no minimum award amount.
- The maximum period of performance for this grant is 48 months.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants for the MPPEP grants include an individual, sole proprietor business or other business entities (regardless of legal structure) engaged or proposing to engage in meat and poultry processing, including federally recognized Tribes and tribal entities, for-profit entities, non-profit entities, and State or local government entities. Applicants must engage or propose to engage in slaughter and/or further processing with plans to operate under USDA, tribal or state-equivalent inspection. Private entities must be independently owned and operated, and all entities must be domestically owned. Additionally, applicants’ meat and poultry processing facilities must be physically located and operated in the United States (U.S.) or its territories.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
