The AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Milk Processing (MPEM) Grant offers designated grants to facilitate the start-up, modernization, or expansion of meat, poultry, egg, and milk processing businesses.
Donor Name: Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA)
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/17/2026
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Grant funds are available to facilitate the start-up, modernization, or expansion of meat, poultry, egg, and milk processing businesses. The program aims to increase sales of Minnesota-raised livestock products by investing in equipment and physical improvements that support processing, capacity, market diversification, and market access.
Priorities
The scoring criteria of this grant program include priority points for:
- Projects that increase food safety.
- Projects that focus on meat or poultry processing capacity, especially slaughtering.
- Projects that increase access to kosher or halal markets.
Funding Information
- Approximately $2.25 million is available between the Value-Added and MPEM programs.
- The maximum award is $150,000 and the minimum award is $1,000. Although applicants may request up to $150,000, applicants should expect that very few, if any, applicants will receive more than $100,000.
Eligible Projects
Eligible projects and expenses Projects must:
- Aim to increase sales of Minnesota livestock products by increasing production capacity, diversifying markets, or increasing market access for meat, poultry, egg, and milk products.
- Be conducted in Minnesota.
- Not start until the grant contract is signed by all parties and has reached its start date.
- Be completed in three years or less. Contracts cannot be extended beyond three years.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the minimum requirements to be considered for this grant opportunity:
- Intend to or be engaged with livestock slaughter or processing, including meat, poultry, eggs, or milk.
- Be an individual (including farmers), business, agricultural cooperative, nonprofit, educational institution, a local unit of government, or Native American Tribal government.
- Be located or reside in Minnesota and be authorized to conduct business in Minnesota.
- Meet the requirements of the Pre-award Risk Assessment.
- Examples of applicants:
- USDA, “Equal To” (E2), and custom-exempt slaughter and processing plants
- Licensed on-farm meat and poultry processors
- Creameries, bottling houses, and cheese manufacturers
- Egg processors and producers engaged in the washing, candling, grading, or sorting of eggs
- Livestock byproduct processors.
For more information, visit MDA.
