Two beef plants are set to open for operation at a time when the cattle supply is low and packers are not seeing as much profit, but facility supporters plan for success.
America’s Heartland Packing LLC in Wright City, Missouri, is set to open later in April 2025 and Sustainable Beef in North Platte, Nebraska, will open in May 2025, affecting a wider region of Midwestern states where cattle will be sourced.
“The impact the Sustainable Beef plant will make is not only on this city and state, but also the entire region,” said Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb. “Agriculture is a part of what we do. If we are going to grow the state, we have to grow agriculture, and this facility represents an investment in that.”
Founded in 2020 by a group of Nebraska cattlemen and investors, Sustainable Beef was built to help strengthen the beef supply chain and support local cattle producers. When fully operational, the Sustainable Beef facility will kill 1,500 head of cattle per day, employ 850 people and bring a $1 billion impact on the region.
DTN Livestock Market Analyst ShayLe Stewart said the onset of having two new packing plants open in 2025 is significant for the cattle and beef industry. “Producers and feedlot managers remember the days in which shackle space was an issue, and how that gravely limited fed cattle and feeder cattle prices.” She added, from a grass-root perspective, more competition in the marketplace is always welcomed and it will likely help drive stronger feeder cattle and fed cattle prices as new buyers will need to source cattle for those plants.
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUCCESS
In 2022, the group partnered with Walmart and brought a unique business model forward to be able to supply these stores with high quality beef at an everyday low price, according to Sustainable Beef COO Bill Rupp. “The beef industry hasn’t seen much change in the processing sector since the 1980s. This plant has true alignment from the producer to the consumers,” he added.
Local rancher Trey Wasserburger is a driving force behind the Sustainable Beef plant. “Our goal is to promote U.S. beef and raise demand and these are the guys who are going to do it,” he said of the relationship with Walmart to market the beef product coming out of the plant.
MISSOURI PLANT PROCESSING SOON
The $800 million Missouri beef packing facility, America’s Heartland Packing LLC, broke ground in 2022 and is set to begin processing operations in April. Once it has ramped up production, 2,400 head will be processed per day.
Jennifer Dibbern, executive vice president of marketing and corporate communications for American Foods Group (AFG), who owns the location, said it is a mixed cattle plant and will pull cattle from the entire region. The plant will employ 1,300 people when it is scaled up to full production.
“America’s Heartland Packing is a game changer for Missouri agriculture,” Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Chris Chinn said in a news release. “The impact this plant not only reaches producers, but also feed stores, farm supply stores and veterinary clinics in towns across the area as producers retain cattle for processing.”
CHALLENGING TIME FOR SUCCESS
Success for these plants comes at a challenging time, with concerns from a business perspective on longevity and sustainably of these facilities. “Given that the U.S. beef cow herd sits at a record low, will those plants be able to find enough cattle to run their operation profitably? And the second part that’s vital to a packing plant’s success is being able to competitively market the meat they cut to a retail outlet,” Stewart added.
She pointed out that Sustainable Beef’s contract with Walmart would protect them from some vulnerability, as new packing plants in years past have gone out of business because the bigger, more established plants have tied up all the retail business, which makes it impossible for new plants to flourish when they can’t market their end-product.
Rupp doesn’t expect a problem with success at the Nebraska plant, given the support so far and the commitment of those who have invested in it. “We have had five years of building this to where it is now. There are 560,000 square feet of reasons why this plant is going to be successful,” he said.
Officials with AFG are also committed to making the Missouri facility successful. Steve Van Lannen, president and COO, said in a news release, “From the state to the county, the cattlemen to the local community organizations, the support we’ve received has been remarkable.” This plant is part of their commitment for long-term growth in the cattle business.
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DTN
