The current expansion plan has been in motion for over a year

The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded Richland Locker Co Inc. a $200,000 Project Grant under the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants – Supplemental Funding program (CFDA 10.180). The funding will support Richland Locker's expansion plans to increase meat harvesting and processing capacity at its facility in Richland Center, WI. Specifically, the grant funds will go towards constructing a connecting building that includes a new freezer, large slaughter/chill cooler, and packaging room equipped with a roll stock machine. These infrastructure upgrades are intended to alleviate current constraints posed by a small outdated harvest cooler and limited processing area. Upon completion of the expansion by the September 2024 deadline, Richland Locker anticipates being able to harvest animals one day a week instead of two and expand its wholesale market reach.

The timing of this grant will help US complete the whole project at once instead of two phases. We purchased a building on an adjacent lot to the north of the current facility in january of 2021. We are in the process of designing and bidding a renovation to the building to move our retail and wholesale business there. This will give US more room and time for processing animals. The next step in the project is to build a connecting building to include a new freezer, new large slaughter chill cooler, and a packaging room for a roll stock machine. If funding is given to help afford the connection building IT will increase our harvesting capacity. Our two current limiting factors are a small outdated harvest cooler and a small processing area. By moving the retail to a new building we can increase processing. With a new slaughter cooler we can increase our slaughter capacity as well as our efficiency by harvesting one day a week instead of two. Building a new freezer will also help increase our capacity as we struggle storing all the processed meat before IT is picked up by the consumer. The new packaging room with a roll stock machine will greatly increase our packaging efficiency and capacity. The consumers like a vacuum packaged product with this roll stock packaging machine we will expand our wholesale market to more gas stations and supermarkets.