Meat processing upgrades coming to Western South Dakota
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Meat production in Western South Dakota will see an upgrade soon starting with Sturgis Meats. They are the first on this side of the state to receive a new loan aimed at upgrading meat and poultry processing across the state.
The West River Foundation for Economic & Community Development started a program at the end of last year called the Meat & Poultry Intermediary Lending Program. This program is responsible for loaning money to meat and poultry processing facilities so that they can upgrade any aspect of the business. The loan manager for this program says more than anything, these loans are preventing future problems before they arise.
“The purpose is really to invest into the meat and poultry processing sector in the state in order to limit food supply chain issues,” said Fran White the Loan Manager for the West River Revolving Loan Fund.
Sturgis Meat Service is the first West River business to receive one of these loans and its owner explains just how beneficial this money will be to the business.
“Back when I took the plant over they were still paper wrapping so we went to all vacuum sealing and now vacuum sealing is kinda obsolete so we’re going to roll stock packaging. So what that means is our ground beef for example will look just like a perfect professional cube that you see in Safeway when you go to buy organic beef,” said Cindy Tolle the owner of Sturgis Meat Service.
The money won’t just make their packaging easier, Tolle says the second biggest expense will increase their meat production as well.
“We’re gonna buy two new smokehouses and our smokehouses we make Sturgis Jerky and we make a lot of it, in fact in the last three years our jerky production has tripled from what it was when I bought the plant. Most of our stuff goes retail all over the world and with the smokehouses that enables us to pretty much triple our capacity,” said Tolle
It shouldn’t be too long till we see these upgrades either, Tolle says she plans to have them done by the end of the year at the latest.
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