(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Board recently approved the rules for a new fund designed to help small meat processors. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson, Kannan Kappleman, says the agency is charged with handing out the 750-thousand dollars.  “The fund provides financial assistance in the form matching grants to businesses for projects related to small-scale meat processing, licensed custom lockers, and mobile slaughter units,” according to Kappleman.

She says those rules lay out the requirements to receive the grants. She says the I-E-D-A website has a document on frequently asked questions and the rules. Kappleman says the shutdown of the large-scale meatpackers during the pandemic shined the light on the smaller operations. “So these smaller establishments were fulfilling the needs that were definitely in demand at that time,” she says.

The grants can be used to modernize and improve the operations. The Iowa Legislature passed and Governor Kim Reynolds signed what officially called “The Butchery Innovation and Revitalization Fund” into law in June of this year.