Spruce Hill Meats LLC

Spruce Hill Meats LLC is a veteran-owned, for-profit meat processing business located in Bowman, North Dakota, that has received federal grant funding to support its growth and modernization as a federally-inspected meat processing facility. Established in 2020, the company has leveraged federal grant awards to develop its operational capabilities and expand its market reach within local and regional food systems. As a small agricultural enterprise, Spruce Hill Meats represents the type of rural agribusiness that the federal government supports through targeted grant programs designed to strengthen local food production and distribution networks.

Spruce Hill Meats LLC has received three significant federal grant awards totaling approximately $647,907 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first award, a $200,000 Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant from the Agricultural Marketing Service (awarded September 30, 2021, with completion by September 29, 2024), funded critical facility modernization efforts including upgraded meat smoking equipment, installation of a smoking room, purchase of a vacuum tumbler and carcass splitting saw, addition of a table-top vacuum packaging machine, implementation of a point-of-sale system, and hiring of a food safety consultant. The second award was a COVID-19 relief grant from the Agricultural Marketing Service (awarded January 3, 2022, through January 2, 2023) that supported workplace safety measures, facility retrofitting, transportation, and related pandemic response costs incurred between January 27, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Most recently, Spruce Hill Meats received a $247,907 Project Grant through the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (CFDA 10.175) from Rural Business Cooperative Services (awarded September 23, 2025, with completion by September 23, 2027) to support development and expansion of local and regional food systems through enhanced direct and indirect producer-to-consumer marketing channels and value-added product creation. These grants have enabled the company to transition to federal inspection status, expand its processing capacity by 25 percent, increase staffing, and develop both retail and wholesale meat product offerings.