USDA Allocates $500M To Provide Temporary Support For Beef Proces

One of the priorities of the USDA's recently announced Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers, or SPUR Program, is to temporarily support eligible beef processing facilities. The program, the Department noted, is designed to support cattle producers by supporting small and medium-sized processors.

USDA Farm Production and Conservation Undersecretary Richard Fordyce said up to $500 million in payments, via the Commodity Credit Corporation, are available for eligible processors. The SPUR program will be administered by FSA, but not in the traditional sense.

"It will not be done through the county office system, but it will actually be implemented from here in Washington," Fordyce said. "Foreign Service Agency will get numbers from the Food Safety Inspection Service. We will know the number of heads that have gone through a particular plant, and then we will contact that processor, make them aware of their eligibility, make them aware of what that support might look like, and then there'll be a pre-filled application that they'll be able to sign and we'll be able to participate in the program.”

America's Ranchers Deserve A Strong Marketplace

Fordyce noted the SPUR program will work through the Chief Economist's Office to to create a payment calculation.

"These facilities, to be eligible, they need to be USDA inspected, or they also need to be a part of the Tallmadge-Aiken Cooperative Inspection Program, which is essentially state inspectors that are basically licensed to do USDA inspections," he said.

“America’s ranchers deserve a strong, competitive marketplace that rewards their hard work and preserves opportunity for generations to come,” said Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins. “Today, historically tight cattle supplies, the Biden administration’s anti-cattle focus, consolidation in and foreign ownership of meat packing and the reemergence of New World Screwworm have created extraordinary market conditions that are placing significant pressure on our independent and regional beef processors. Through the Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers (SPUR) Program, USDA is taking targeted action to preserve the independent processing capacity that ranchers rely on, strengthen competition across the American beef supply chain, and support rural communities across the country. This is another important step in our Plan to Fortify the American Beef Industry by strengthening domestically owned processing capacity and ensuring America’s cattle producers continue to have strong market opportunities and meet America’s historically high beef demand. As we Make America Healthy Again, we are working to ensure American families have continued access to nutritious, high-quality American beef while promoting greater competition, a more resilient food supply chain, and long-term affordability at the grocery store.”