Farmer Focus receives $3.6m grant in second MPPEP round

Farmer Focus has received a $3.6 million grant as part of the second round of USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP).

The grant will support a $17.8 million expansion of Farmer Focus’s existing organic chicken facility in Harrisonburg, Virginia. By almost doubling the site’s processing capacity over the next two years, the investment will enable Farmer Focus to create more than 300 new jobs for residents of the city and surrounding area.

The $59 million second round of MPPEP investment was announced by US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during a visit to Farmer Focus’s Harrisonburg headquarters on Tuesday.

Vilsack said: “The Biden-Harris administration and USDA are taking action to advance a sustainable vision of agriculture that prioritises the needs of our resilient producers and small businesses, strengthens our food supply chain and brings value back to rural people and places”.

He added: “Through investments like this one, USDA will continue to work tirelessly to give farmers and ranchers a fair chance to compete in the marketplace, which in turn helps lower food costs for the American people”.

The MPPEP’s aim is to increase meat and poultry processing capacity, expand market opportunities for farmers and create jobs in rural areas.