USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the Biden Administration is investing $89 million under the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program to expand independent meat processors. USDA also announced the initial steps to create a more competitive marketplace for seeds and other ag inputs. USDA is making the investments in seven states, including North Dakota and South Dakota. “This lending program provides credit to independently owned processing facilities for equipment or to expand.” Vilsack says there will be more announcements and effort put into expanding processing. Vilsack also announced a new proposed rule around “Product of the U.S.A” labeling. “If you want to use this label, you can only do it if the critter was born, raised, slaughtered, and processed here.”
