Last week at a press conference in the Prairie Arts Center in North Platte, David Briggs, CEO of Sustainable Beef, lead the majority of the presentation about the planned beef packing plant near the city. Briggs explained that Sustainable Beef will be a 300,000 square feet beef packing plant located on the old sewage lagoon near North Platte. This will be the newest beef packing plant in the country giving it advantages over a plant that was built in the 1960s-1970s and has been updated over the years.
The plant is expected to process around 400,000 head/year which is equivalent to 1,500 head per day. Briggs explains at this level the plant will be a one shift plant unlike many in the state. At that production level there will also be efficiency advantages that will keep them competitive in the retail market. Briggs highlighted that the projected business for the plant will be 30% export and 70% domestic. Pete McClymont with Nebraska Cattlemen highlighted that the export number actually doubles what most plants are able to do in the international market.
Briggs introduced via slide show the experts that will be helping bring the plant online. Many of them are retired Cargill Meat Solutions employees that have deep industry knowledge. Briggs believes this is one of the important keys to the plants success by building off of their industry experience and knowledge.
The plant is expected to employ 875 employees which they hope to source from North Platte and surrounding communities. North Platte schools spoke that this will help bring more students into the school system which has nearly 1,400 open seats.
Pioneer Ranch owner Rusty Kemp helped to start this entire project when on a trade mission to Vietnam with Governor Ricketts. He continues to help bring the plant closer to reality as a board member for Sustainable Beef. Kemp is excited about the opportunities this helps bring for the area ranchers and should help increase locally fed cattle basis prices.
Nebraska Cattlemen’s Executive Vice President Pete McClymont was in attendance at the press conference and is excited to see this plant come online and the expansion of National Beef’s Tama Iowa plant. “This helps build the shackle or slaughter capacity that the industry needs.”
The plant isn’t quite ready to break ground, but the timeline has it ready to go into operation in the next 18-24 months.
The crowd seemed fairly receptive to the opportunity Sustainable Beef poses for the city of 25,000. There were questions of odor control, housing, and issues other cities with packing plants have experienced. These issues were addressed one on one with Kemp mentioning that the plant will have state of the art odor control that will cost between $5-$6 million. “We don’t invest that kind of money into something if it isn’t going to work.”
The Mayor addressed housing and security saying the 875 employees expected would easily fit into the community and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s department is not concerned from a security standpoint. The Mayor also said other companies interested in investing in North Platte are closely watching how this business start-up goes.
Here’s more on the plant firsthand:
