Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program

USDA is making grant funding available to meat and poultry processors for start-up and expansion. The objective is to provide more and better processing options to producers as soon as possible.

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.

Eligible applicants, which include an individual sole proprietor business and other business entities, must engage or propose to engage in meat and poultry processing which will expand capacity in the sector. Entities are eligible regardless of legal structure and may include, but are not limited to, federally recognized tribes, tribal entities, for-profit entities, corporations, non-profit entities, producer-owned cooperatives and corporations, certified benefit corporations, and State or local government entities. Private entities must be independently owned and operated. All entities must be domestically owned, and their meat and poultry processing facilities (existing or planned) must be physically located and operated within the U.S. or its territories. Eligible applicants must process or plan to process one or more species subject to the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) or the Poultry Product Inspection Act (PPIA) and possess or plan to obtain a Federal Grant of Inspection, a grant of inspection under a Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, or a tribal or state meat and poultry inspection program with standards at least equal to Federal inspection at the time of application. Plants processing non-amenable species under voluntary Food Safety and Inspection Service inspection are also eligible to apply for funding. Eligible applicants, including affiliates of the eligible applicant, must not hold a market share greater than or equal to the entity that holds the fourth largest share of that market for any of the following species: beef, pork, chicken, or turkey processing. All applicants must list and certify their market share for beef, pork, chicken, and turkey processing at the time of the application and indicate whether or not they are in the top four processors in those species. Applicants that engage or propose to engage in further processing may be eligible provided that the project increases demand for animals; increases opportunities for producers to access value-added markets; or improves the viability of an existing processing operation. Additionally, for applicants that engage or plan to engage in further processing, inputs must be the products of primary processing. A resolution of support is required for projects on tribal lands, from the governing body of the Tribe with jurisdiction over that land, if the applicant is not the Tribe nor an entity owned or operated by that Tribe. Eligible applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at time of application and must maintain annual SAM registration while an application is active and through the term of an award. Please refer to Section 3.7.1 for instructions on how to register your entity in the SAM. Multiple applications from separate applicant entities with identical or greater than 75 percent common ownership, or from a parent, subsidiary or affiliated organization (with ''affiliation'' defined by Small Business Administration regulation 13 CFR 121.103, or successor regulation) are not permitted.

An applicant selected for this grant must use funds for the purpose of expanding processing capacity in the applicant's market to accommodate additional species, increased volumes, or otherwise expand capacity. Within such a project, eligible activities include, but are not limited to: • Construction of a new facility; • Modernizing or expanding an existing facility (including expansion and modifications to existing buildings and/or construction of new buildings at existing facilities, construction of holding pens, construction of wastewater management structures, etc.); • Modernizing processing and manufacturing equipment (including cutting equipment, mixers, grinders, sausage stuffers, smokers, curing equipment, pipes, motors, pumps, and valves); • Developing, customizing, and installing equipment, devices, and technology that automates processing functions to improve worker conditions and safety; Developing, customizing, and installing climate-smart equipment that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency in water use, improves air and/or water quality, and/or meets one or more of USDA's climate action goals; • Ensuring compliance with packaging and labeling requirements under applicable law (including sealing, bagging, boxing, labeling, conveying, and product moving equipment); • Ensuring compliance with occupational and other safety requirements under applicable law; • Modernizing equipment or facilities to ensure food safety; • Paying for voluntary grading services to offer value-added processed products; • Accounting for costs associated with becoming an inspected facility (including Hazard, Analysis, and Critical Control Points (HACCP) consultation, employee training or technical assistance related to inspection, etc.); and • Workforce recruitment, training, apprenticeships, and retention to ensure expansion projects will be adequately staffed and crewed and offer opportunities to workers.

Proposed project completed within 48 months.

As part of a complete application, applicants are required to provide a narrative describing their project. The application narrative will be scored against the four categories of evaluation criteria described below: Financial Viability, Technical Feasibility, and Readiness. Market Impact and Opportunities. Community Impact and Support. Labor and Workforce Personnel. More points will be awarded to applications that address how the project will support the goals of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program in their response to each category of criteria.

The Agency will perform an Initial Qualification Screening. Applications that pass the Initial Qualification Screening will be considered by a Review Panel. Applications that pass the Review Panel will then undergo an Agency administrative evaluation where they will be ranked. The ranked applications will be awarded based on the funds available.