The owners of nine small-scale meat processing shops in Iowa are splitting $355,000 in state grant money to expand their businesses.
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig said the “Choose Iowa Butchery Innovation Grants” have to be matched by the business and these grants are leveraging investments of nearly $2 million.
“This is all about helping Iowa consumers access more locally grown protein,” Naig said. “…It helps small businesses, especially in rural areas, with equipment and facility needs — new smokehouses, freezer and cooler systems, processing line expansions and equipment modernization.”
Naig said meat lockers had been facing challenging times, but the pandemic was a turning point. “We’ve got more producers that are looking to sell through these channels, but we also have the consumers on the other end, absolutely increasing demand,” Naig said. “Overwhelming survey results will show you Iowans say that they will go out of their way to buy something local and they will even spend a little more on that product if they know that it’s coming from an Iowa farm or an Iowa business.”
Lucas Van Wyk, co-owner of the Ulrich Meat Market in Pella, is president of the Iowa Meat Processors Association and he joined Naig at a news conference in Des Moines. “This grant means more than just dollars to upgrade equipment or expand capacity for our establishments. It’s a recognition of the essential role in Iowa’s food supply chain,” he said. “It’s an investment in the people who are commited to doing this work the right way, with care, skill and pride with every cut.”
The news conference was staged a couple of miles from the Iowa Capitol, at a meat locker that’s been operating since 1869. Tucker Maxwell, who recently bought the business, is getting one of the grants and expects to dramatically expand the number of cattle it processes. “Right now we’re at 12 head a week,” Maxwell said. “…Now I’m kind of quickly realizing the constraints of what we have for cooler space and this equipment should help us get to 25, 30 — potentially even 40.”
Lawmakers created the state grant program for butcher shops in 2021 and the first round of grants were awarded in early 2022.
Here are the latest grant recipients:
Weaver Meats in Afton $40,000
Cherokee Locker in Cherokee $75,000
Maxwell Custom Beef in Des Moines $30,000
Trefenthaler Quality Meats in Holstein $45,000
Milo Locker Meats in Milo $75,000
Friedrichson Meat Company in Sutherland $25,000
Skoglund Meats in West Bend $25,000
Winthrop Locker in Winthrop $25,000
Yetter Locker in Yetter $25,000
