Brown announces $2M to expand meat and poultry processing in southwest Ohio

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a $2 million loan for South Central Development Company in Hillsboro through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program (MPILP).

The investment will help finance an expansion for meat processing. The revolving loan fund will focus on reducing supply chain bottlenecks for meat and poultry processing that have made it hard for independent Ohio family farmers to compete with Big Ag.

“This investment in meat and poultry processing will help make our supply chains more resilient, bring down prices, and bring jobs back home to Ohio,” said Brown. “Expanding local processing in Ohio will help ensure that Ohio family farmers can compete with Big Ag."

The MPILP provides grant funding to intermediary lenders who finance the start-up, expansion or operation of slaughter, or other processing of meat and poultry. The objective of the MPILP is to strengthen the financing capacity for independent meat and poultry processors, and to create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain.

Brown, the first Ohioan to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 50 years, has long been a leader for Ohio’s rural communities. In February, Brown introduced the bipartisan bicameral Strengthening Local Processing Act, which would provide support to America’s small meat and poultry processors and help strengthen and streamline their operations.

Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, Brown held roundtables around Ohio to hear from farmers and rural communities about what they wanted to see in the bill, and successfully secured a number of Ohio-specific provisions that were important to the state’s farmers.