USDA Rural Development Invests More Than $408,000 to Assist South Dakota Rural Meat Processors

(Huron, S.D., November 5, 2026) - U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development recently announced $57 million through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program. USDA Rural Development South Dakota State Director Lorraine Polak today announced two South Dakota processors will receive a combined $408,410 to expand their capacity and create new and better markets.

"This funding will help our small and regional processors expand and become more efficient in their operations, and this ultimately provides our producers more opportunity and more choices of where they take their beef. But also then to provide a good quality product in our communities," said Polak. [Polak Audio, MP3, 16s]

The investments in South Dakota are:

• Very Good Meat Company LLC will receive $224,292 to expand beef processing and value-added product capacity by purchasing a patty machine, a beef stick stuffer, and rollstock packaging machine. These investments are expected to increase production efficiency, improve packaging speed and product consistency, and allow more locally sourced beef to be processed into higher-value products..
• Bluebird Locker, Inc. will receive $184,118 to purchase a rollstock packaging machine to automate packaging operations, increase processing efficiency, and reduce packaging bottlenecks. The new equipment is expected to expand processing capacity by up to 40%.

USDA has awarded more than $200 million to independent businesses under the MPPEP program. These projects have created thousands of jobs across the country. Learn more about USDA's investments to strengthen the meat and poultry supply chain at usda.gov/meat.

Learn more about USDA Rural Development programs, investment opportunities, and past investment stories at RD.USDA.Gov/SD. Discover more investment details and historical data in the Rural Data Gateway. Subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates for South Dakota on the GovDelivery subscriber page.

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