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CONGRESSMAN BOUCHER ANNOUNCES FEDERAL FUNDING FOR LOCALLY FINISHED BEEF INITIATIVE
$23,000 Grant Will Be Used to Conduct Feasibility Study for Regional Harvesting Facility
(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Representative Rick Boucher announced today that, at his urging, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through its Rural Development Agency, is providing a federal grant in the amount of $23,000 to Grayson Landcare to help further the growth of Southwest Virginia's value added beef industry. The funding will be used to conduct a necessary feasibility study for the location of a new harvest facility, which would be used to produce locally finished value added beef. "This provision of federal funding which I am announcing today represents an another step forward in a community effort to expand opportunities for Southwest Virginia farmers interested in producing value added beef," Boucher said.
With the benefit of the federal funds announced today Grayson Landcare will conduct a necessary feasability study for the possible location of a slaughter house in Grayson, Carroll, or Wythe Counties. The new facility would be used harvest locally finished value added beef which could then be sold to local retailers. The study represents another step in a cooperative effort among beef farmers to build a value added beef industry and to develop a system for processing their beef locally and market it as a specialty product on a regional level.
Congressman Boucher is working with Grayson Landcare as well as with beef producers from throughout Southwest Virginia to encourage the emergence of a locally finished, value added beef industry that will sell its product to local retailers, and he has convened a working group of local producers to oversee this effort. In July Boucher hosted a Ninth District Value-Added Beef Conference in which experts offered information regarding the economic benefits of value added beef production and the market which exists at the retail level for value added beef, as well as techniques utilized in the raising and care of beef.
"The production of value added beef holds great promise for our agriculture economy. Grayson Landcare should be commended for their efforts in helping beef farmers in our region take advantage of this opportunity," Boucher concluded.
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