Government officials have announced that Pure Prairie Farms will receive a $6.9 million grant as part of a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Programme (MPPEP).

Launched in 2021, the programme materialised in response to supply chain disruptions in recent years for meat and poultry products during the pandemic. The programme is designed to “encourage competition and sustainable growth in the US meat processing sector, and to help improve supply chain resiliency”.

The MPPEP grant enables Pure Prairie Farms to “take the business to the next level” and achieve its vision of producing quality chicken.

Part of a $51.7 million improvement project, the MPPEP grant will support the construction of an 18,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution centre and redesign its second processing area.

CEO and president of Pure Prairie Farms, Brian Roelofs, said: “It wasn’t so much that we matched our company to the grant, but that the grant was tailormade for smaller food companies like ours who are partnering in ownership with growers in a unique way for the industry”.

“It will allow us to reach our state-of-the-art processing plant’s full potential much quicker and restore a market for area jobs and regional farmers.”

Pure Prairie Farms also received a $2.3 million training grant recently from the Iowa Economic Development Authority alongside a $38.7 million USDA-backed loan, designed to invest in smaller agriculture manufacturers.