(Indianapolis, IN) - The Indiana State Department of Agriculture is stepping up to the financial plate to help local butcher shops keep up with skyrocketing demand brought on by COVID-19. The ISDA, on November 23, awarded $4 million to 41 meat processors through the Indiana Meat Processing Expansion & Development Grant Program.
Demand at local meat processing facilities statewide has increased substantially from people stocking up after running into shortages at supermarkets particularly early in the pandemic. The shortages have eased up but local butcher shops are still receiving more business from people avoiding grocery chains out of fear of being infected in large crowds. Recipients of the grants are required to provide an equal amount in matching dollars toward the expansion of their operations.
Sims Meat Processing in Kingsbury received a $150,000 grant. Owner Craig Sims said he’s already broken ground on a close to 3,000 square foot addition that will increase his processing, storage and retail space. Sims said he was already seeing a gradual increase in processing the past few years from growth in the locally produced foods movement but what’s happened since the arrival of coronavirus pales in comparison. ’It’s just taken the business and just blown it up as far as demand,” he said. His plant is booked until 2022 for processing freezer beef.
Sims has just enough capacity to process meat for his retail store which has seen a 30 to 40 percent increase in sales over the past eight months. “It would be more than that. We just haven’t had the facility to handle a bigger increase,” he said.
Sims estimated he’ll process about 1,100 pigs this year compared to 780 in 2019. He hopes to go back to a normal schedule for processing freezer meat once construction of the addition is finished in the spring. “It’s going to take some pressure off the main processing room so they can just focus on processing the freezer beef and freezer pigs for people,” Sims said.
Sims doesn’t expect the higher demand to go away once the pandemic as new customers are enjoying the quality and lower prices. He also doesn’t expect any let up in the growing popularity of locally grown foods. Sims pointed out all of his hamburger is from beef cattle raised near Mill Creek and his pork is entirely from pigs outside Rolling Prairie. “It’s all local. We can tell the people they can drive by and see where their meat came from if they want to see the farm,” Sims said.
Other grant recipients from northern Indiana include J & J Quality Meats, LLC in Bourbon, Monon Meat Packing & Catering in White County and Slabaugh Meat Processing, Inc. in Nappanee.
“Meat processors are essential for our state, contributing more than $3.9 billion to our economy. It is vital we keep these businesses growing and operating safely,” said ISDA Director Bruce Kettler.
