WSDA Meat Processing Grants Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. Small meat processing operations in Washington state still have time to apply for a new grant program from the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
The Ag Department’s Hector Castro says the Meat Processing Capacity Grants are meant to increase access to livestock and poultry processing for the small to midsize farmers and ranchers …
CASTRO … “The idea is for these operations to apply, sort of explain what the activity or what the work is that they want to do. Once that gets approved and they do the work, then we will reimburse them for the cost of that work. And it can run the gamut from needing a new cooler to wanting to get additional training for their staff.”
And the grants, Castro says are fairly significant …
CASTRO … “What we’re doing is we’ve sort of broken them down into the small and large grants. And, for the smaller projects there’s a cap of about $150,000 and we’re looking for projects that can be turned around pretty quickly, completed by the end of this June.”
But, more time and funds for the bigger projects …
CASTRO … “For the larger projects, you know, we’re providing more time. And that funding available for those grants is up to $750,000. And those are for projects that might take, you know, a full year and not be completed until next June, in 2023.”
Application deadlines are February 28th for the smaller grants and March 7th for the larger. Tune in tomorrow for more on the meat processing grants.
