Support for eligible beef processing facilities. The emphasis of USDA’s recently announced Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers, SPUR, program.
“It is a program designed to support cattle producers by supporting small- and medium-sized processors.”
Farm Production and Conservation Undersecretary Richard Fordyce explains the makeup of the SPUR program.
“We took $500 million out of the Commodity Credit Corporation to support this effort. We’re going to be working through the Chief Economist’s Office, be able to create a payment calculation. It’ll be by the head that go through these facilities. These facilities, to be eligible, need to be USDA inspected, or they also need to be a part of the Talmadge-Aiken Cooperative Inspection Program, which is essentially state inspectors that are basically licensed to do USDA inspection.”
The SPUR program will be administered by the Farm Service Agency, but the undersecretary says not in the traditional sense.
“It will not be done through the county office system, but it will actually be implemented from here in Washington. Farm Service Agency will get numbers from the Food Safety Inspection Service here at USDA, so we will know the number of head that have gone through a particular plant, and then we will contact that processor, make them aware of their eligibility, make them aware of what that support might look like, and then there’ll be a pre-filled application that they’ll be able to sign and be able to participate in the program.”
He adds the SPUR program works in conjunction with additional USDA efforts to strengthen our nation’s beef industry and boost beef supplies.
“We can raise beef, but in order to get that into a retail location, get that on a consumer’s plate, it requires that really important step of processing. And so this is just an effort to support that infrastructure and help ensure it’s there for the long term.”