Small meatpacker in west-central Minnesota will double its output thanks to federal grant

A small meat-processing facility in Perham earned a federal grant to double its capacity, which the government hopes will help consumers by lowering their costs thanks to increased competition in a concentrated meat industry.

Lakes Community Cooperative, which processes multiple species of livestock, earned the $533,000 on Monday, with U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee — making the announcement.

“This new funding will make it easier for the Lakes Community Cooperative to bolster their capacity and get their high quality meats to new markets,” Klobuchar said in a statement.

A few large companies dominated the meat-packing industry for beef, poultry and pork. Minnetonka-based Cargill, for example, is a major player in processing beef.

“It’s definitely a warranted and well-appreciated step that the United States government has taken in supporting these local meat processors,” said Clay Newton, meat innovation specialist with Crookston-based Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.

Cargill has a processing plant in Albert Lea that totals 150,000 square feet, and earlier this year, Cargill sold off a beef processing plant in Fresno that handles approximately 1,600 head of cattle every day according to industry website Meat and Poultry. The agribusiness giant has more than three dozen processing facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

By comparison, Lakes Community processes only about 35 animals a week in its current 5,000-square-foot plant, per general manager David Blomseth.

“We’re pretty small,” Blomseth said. “We’re not a large animal processing facility.”

The co-op formed in 2023 through a merger of Lakes Area Cooperative in Perham and Community Co-ops of Lake Park. Both had existed for more than 100 years in west-central Minnesota.

Lakes Community is not limited to meat processing. It also operates retail stores, gas stations and provides other services.

“By doubling the capacity of co-ops like Lakes Community Cooperative, producers will have another processing option,” Smith said in a statement. “This helps farmers get a fair value for animals and also helps keep prices down for consumers at the grocery store.”

The money for Lakes Community Cooperative is part of the last batch of investments from the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, which launched in 2022 as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.