PLUM CITY — A grant that will help JM Watkins Meats and Meat Processing construct a new facility that will triple processing capabilities brought USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Basil Gooden to the Plum City American Legion to discuss the food supply chain in the state.

Under the USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), more than $83 million in grant funding was provided to 24 processors, including $1.5 million to JM Watkins in Plum City. The grant funding will go to funding a new building at N2431 Hwy 10, where construction is expected to begin soon.

“With support from USDA’s MPPEP program, they will purchase and equip a new facility that will allow them to triple their processing capacity while expanding their product offerings available for wholesale and retail sales to include bison in addition to cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats. Additionally, this funding will help JM Watkins create 16 new full-time jobs and serve an estimated 36 new producers,” a USDA press release states.

Brandon Clare, the owner of JM Watkins, said the food system in America can be delicate, and it showed during the recent pandemic.

“ you go to Walmart and look for meat, like pork chops, and you couldn’t buy it,” Clare said. “But yet, you’d hear stories in Iowa they were literally shooting pigs and throwing them in the ground because they had nobody to process them. So it kind of makes you realize how vulnerable our food system is.”

Clare said small processors are vital to keeping the food system going, and they are appreciative of the USDA for recognizing that.

Gooden mentioned grants like these allow processors to process more, which in turn helps the farmers.

“As farmers and ranchers, we know that it is often a challenge if you’re trying to get some of your meat processed,” Gooden said. “This really is sort of a boost, a shot in the arm, for a lot of farmers and ranchers.”

The grants and programs of the USDA allow farms and businesses to use funds elsewhere in a time where many costs to farm are on the rise, Gooden said.

“That’s one thing that I know about rural folks and country folks, that we’re very practical,” Gooden said. “If there’s a way that we can reduce the cost of our operation, of what we do, we’re going to take that advantage.”

Gooden emphasized that Americans must come together to reach the common goals they have, and rural America thrives under those conditions.

“That’s what we do in rural America,” Gooden said. “We may not always agree politically. We may not always agree on things that are going on in America. But we are here to help each other, and that’s the pride of rural America.”

Clare thanked a long list of people including family, Fetzer Farms for selling them land to use and people that wrote letters of support.