Stories of the Heartland
By Sheila McCoy
A multitude of people gathered in the Industrial Park in Staples, June 6, to share the excitement of ground being broken to pave the way for Farmers Union Processing + Meats, a state-of-the-art United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-compliant meat processing facility.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Sen. Amy Klobuchar reminded people of what started the process of the new build - the struggle many farmers had during the pandemic and even before where there weren’t enough meat processing facilities.
“It was a huge problem for the farmers that they couldn’t get things done and it was a huge problem on the supply chain and so for me, that same time period (2019), that’s when it sort of came to my mind how important it was to have more meat processing in general for our farmers and for consumers,” she said.
At the same time, Klobuchar and Sen. Rand Paul worked for various colleges to receive funding for their meat cutting programs.
Klobuchar said the 8,000-square-foot facility will process primarily beef and pork and will employ up to 15 people once it is fully operational. In addition, Farmers Union Processing + Meats will also partner with Central Lakes College and Ridgewater College to provide training and internship opportunities for students who are studying meat processing and butchery. The goal, Klobuchar said, is to have the facility fully operational by Jan. 26, 2026.
Looking at what the new facility will do for the rural community and surrounding areas, Klobuchar said the facility will serve area producers with the capacity to process up to 15 beef cattle or 30 hogs per day when it is fully operational. Hy-Tech C-Tec Construction of Brainerd is the lead contractor on the $8 million project and Widseth is the project architect. The construction started early this summer.
“So this isn’t just some, you know, small light flight. It’s a big deal and the Farmers Union is putting the funding behind it and then for the state… we really hope that this could be a model as well as for the rest of the country, because when I talked about that supply chain issue and not having enough meat cutters, the whole eco system, this could be a really good model of how you can get this done and do it smart and get it done in a very short period of time,” she said.
Thom Peterson, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, recalled the thoughts he had surrounding the need for meat processing plants in Minnesota when he was appointed commissioner in 2018. In fact, it was his top priority at the end of 2018 and early 2019 after he was appointed.
“I was coming from 17 years at the Farmers Union and we knew that at that time, you had a lot of our farmers had a six month wait a lot of times to get into a local locker plant,” he said.
Led by the Farmers Union, the organization started bringing back meat cutting classes.
“You know, we hadn’t had a meat cutting class at a technical school for almost 30 years, since the Pipestone school had closed and I’d still know people and run into people who graduated from the last class or things at Pipestone. They’d always be like, ‘We got to get this back going and everything and we saw the need,” he said.
As hiring and training staff at the Farmers Union Processing +Meats will take time, the facility will not operate at full capacity immediately upon opening. Services provided at the new plant will include harvest, wholesale and retail cutout, grinding as well as limited seasoned fresh ground products. Future goals also include expanding its operations to encompass cooking, smoking and additional value-added products.
Gary Wertish, Minnesota Farmer Union Foundation president, said the cost of processing has not yet been determined, but will be revealed in the near future. To start, the plant plans to operate on a standard fee-for-service model to provide livestock producers competitively priced slaughter and processing services for those to market directly to consumers or through retail or wholesale markets.
Wertish said the Farmers Union Processing + Meats is also unique in that it includes modular harvest, cold storage and cut and wrap units that are manufactured by Friesla in Everson, Washington. The modular units will also be incorporated into a structure that houses inspection, critical processing support areas, animal holding and handling and protects staff and equipment from harsh Minnesota weather.