ALMONT, Mich. – It’s been a tough three years for Country Smoke House, but they’re back and now they’ve received a boost from the USDA to expand their business.

Country Smoke House, along with 111 other meat processors across the country – including five others in Michigan – have received grants of about $200,000 to expand their businesses, with an eye toward acquiring the USDA Federal Grant of Inspection, which allows a meat processor to sell their products across state lines. It also enables them to sell to others who can then resell their product under their own name or brand, according to Steve Francis, owner of Country Smoke House.

“I can also make product for farmers who can then sell it at farmers markets,” Francis said. “Most places that do that require a minimum of 3,000 pounds, but I’ll do a minimum of 600 pounds, or maybe less. It’s going to make the market bigger for us and it also allows us to help more farmers.”

Nearly three years ago, Francis’ business was on its knees after a fire destroyed his building and forced him to close, even as he was building and trying to expand. At around the same time, he had a heart attack, but he’s since recovered. His father also had a heart attack during this time and did not survive. Country Smoke House was not able to rebuild and open back up until March of last year. The pandemic did not make things any easier. Still, before the rebuilding Francis’ main building was 5,000 square feet; today it is 38,000 square feet.

Francis said the USDA federal grant of inspection program is necessary, because “there are a lot of foreigners coming in and doing this and they try to get away with whatever they can.” He’s required to provide a dedicated office, an internet connection and computer for a USDA inspector in his building. “Every single piece of meat I process has to be trackable,” he said. Country Smoke House is the largest deer processor in Michigan, yet it started out about 30 years ago as a makeshift operation in Francis’ garage. “Because of our volume we’re able to offer a great price for our customers,” he said. “We’re beating Kroger half the time with our pricing.”

The Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) program assists meat processors in obtaining a Federal Grant of Inspection. It’s just one of a number of meat processor grant programs to be initiated recently, said Mae Wu, USDA Deputy Under Secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs. “We have a bunch of new meat processing grants,” Wu said. “Is it about what happened with meat processing plants during COVID? Sort of, maybe? Absolutely! The pandemic shone a light on how vulnerable our whole food supply chain is, especially our meat supply chain. Four companies control 80 percent of our meat processing capacity. The USDA secretary really wanted to focus on how we can strengthen our meat supply chain, especially our independent meat supply chain infrastructure.”

Wu explained if a meat processor shuts down, farmers will have to ship their animals farther away, adding expense. Also, if the animals grow too big, the processor might not be able to have those animals processed and then they would have to be euthanized. That did happen during the pandemic.

“MPIRG is specifically designed to help smaller processors so they can expand their businesses,” she added. “It’s designed to help get them over that financial hump so they can cross state lines, and maybe to sell to anyone in the country, online.” Wu noted $80 million has been appropriated for workforce development for the meat processing and poultry industry, and $20 million for research to make meat processing facilities safer for workers. “It’s a deep, deep issue, there’s so much going on with meat right now.”

To learn more about the MPIRG grant program, go to https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/mpirg.