U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a $2.7M grant to Five Pillars Butchery (FPB) in Unity. The grant comes through the Department’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) to expand processing capacity and strengthen the food supply chain. The Unity business will use the grant to help construct a new meat and poultry processing facility in the Waldo County community.

“This investment demonstrates the continued commitment USDA has made to build a better, more inclusive food system,” said Rural Development Maine State Director Rhiannon Hampson, in a USDA news release. “We recognize that food is fundamental to creating ‘home’ for so many. This award helps us to be more welcoming to new neighbors, and to support generational Mainers in accessing culturally appropriate food and markets – a win all around for the state of Maine.”

In 2023, USDA Rural Development announced a $65K Rural Business Development Grant for the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) to work with FPB to develop a halal meat cooperative in Maine. With this latest grant, the business plans to build a facility in Unity to process the cooperatively produced meat (twenty cattle and up to sixty sheep and goats weekly once at full capacity). The work will expand the availability of local halal proteins for sale into Muslim-focused retail markets and direct-to-consumer markets. The business also plans to market products to food security organizations, public schools, hospitals, and local businesses serving culturally significant foods.

Maine was one of 15 states with successful applicants in this highly competitive round of MPPEP funding. Nationwide, more than $83 million in grants to 24 independent processors were announced today. Since MPPEP's inception, Rural Development has invested over $291M in 59 projects to expand processing capacity and strengthen the food supply chain. To administer this round of funding, USDA has partnered with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. Details on all of the awards are available online.

“We are glad to bring these federal dollars to Maine to contribute to our food processing capacity and only wish we could fund more projects of this type,” said Director Hampson. “By investing in processing facilities, we help create more and better markets for local food producers. Just as importantly, these investments help create a stable, reliable food system for all Mainers. Under the direction of the Biden-Harris Administration, we are proud to be building bigger tables here at USDA Rural Development, and we celebrate the bounty of locally grown food that graces them.”

USDA Rural Development offers multiple programs to prioritize the needs of producers and small businesses, strengthen the food supply chain, and bring value back to rural people and places. For example, in 2023 USDA awarded $8M to Coastal Enterprise Inc. through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program. Other recent investments in Maine’s food system include a grant to Main Street Skowhegan toward the construction of a commercial kitchen and $1M in Value Added Producer Grants to five local farms in 2023.