(Radio Iowa) – Thirteen businesses, including one here in Cass County (IA), will get state money this year from a fund designed to help small-scale meat processors. Iowa Economic Development Authority spokesperson Kanan Kappleman says the grants total more than 970-thousand dollars.”Eligible projects under the Butchery and Revitalization Fund would include expanding or refurbishing an existing facility or establishing a new business,” she says. Kappleman says the money is often used for buying equipment.”Refrigeration facilities, freezer facilities, or equipment that is necessary to expand the processing capacity of a facility,” Kappelman says. Kappelman says the fund was created after the need was revealed for these type of processors when the large-scale meat processors were shut down during the pandemic. She says there are just a few requirements to get the grants.

“Number one they would be authorized to do business in Iowa. The second is that they employ less than 75 individuals,” she says. There also some limits on the amount of the grants. “The maximum award amount for any one company was 100-thousand dollars and no more than 50 percent of the eligible project expenses can be made with these grant funds,” Kappelman says.

There were five projects that requested grants that didn’t win awards this year. Locally, Bailey Beef Processing in Anita received a grant for $41,500 toward their total project cost of $83,000. As KJAN News reported in May,The Cass County Board of Supervisors received a request for County participation in helping the Anita Locker receive an economic development grant. Supervisor’s Board Chair Steve Baier said he wrote “a general letter of support” for the grant, because other projects that have flourished under similar grants.

Scot and Cheryl Bailey, along with their son Jackson, own the Anita Locker. Scot and Cheryl appeared before the Board to explain the need for funds to update their facility, especially in light of business coming from the Minden Locker, which had to close due to damage from the April 26^th tornado.

Cheryl Bailey said they applied for a matching grant from the IEDA (Iowa Economic Development Authority) because of the need to improve their freezer capacity.

She said they had also applied for a CIS (Cooperative Interstate Shipping) license, which allows participating state-inspected meat and poultry establishments to ship products across state lines. To qualify for the CIS program, a meat processor must have fewer than 25 full-time employees and comply with all federal food safety, sanitation and facility regulations. Anita Locker has six employees, including two full-time and two part-time, and if the locker can update it’s compressor, that would bring in more business and allow them to hire three-to-four more people.

Here is a list of the rest of the grant recipients with the amount of the project and amount of the grant awarded:
Amana Farms Beef Homestead project cost $16,640; grant awarded: $8,320
Cooks Meat Locker LLC Parnell project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Double Dutch Meat Processing, Inc. Pella project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Edgewood Locker INC project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Friedrichsen Meat Company LLC Sutherland project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
Grimm Family Farm LLC Williamsburg project cost $176,503; grant awarded: $88,251
Jakes Meat Market Sibley project cost $60,418; grant awarded: $30,209
LDL Investsments Brighton project cost $99,210; grant awarded: $49,605
Northcote Meats Inc. Melcher project cost $200,000, grant awarded: $100,000
Regenerative Food Processing Stacyville project cost $105,350; grant awarded: $52,675
Skoglund Meats & Locker Inc West Bend project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000
The Good Butcher LLC Des Moines project cost $200,000; grant awarded: $100,000