Family-run locker plant in Holstein and 75 others share in grants to expand meat processing

LINCOLN — It was hard for Mark Gentert to admit, but the COVID-19 pandemic was probably good, in a “twisted way,” for sales at his small-town meat locker outside of Hastings.

 “The grocery stores were running out of meat,” Gentert said. “It started bringing people out of the cities and out in the country.”

“It got them in my door,” he said.

ARPA funds financed grants

This week, Gentert Packing in Holstein was announced as one of 76 recipients of state grants funded via $10 million from Nebraska’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act money.

About $5.2 million was awarded in the most recent round, on top of $4.75 million in grants awarded in September 2022.

The grants, which are for small meat processors with fewer than 25 employees and sales revenue of less than $2.5 million, are intended to avoid the meat shortages that plagued the U.S. during the pandemic.

During the outbreak, supplies in grocery stores ran low or ran out, which forced families seeking hamburger, pork chops and other meats to seek new outlets, such as Gentert’s, located 22 miles southwest of Hastings in Holstein, a farm town of 150 people.

The retail portion of business at the meat processing plant has increased from 10% to about 25%, according to Gentert, and now draws customers from Kearney and Grand Island.

New equipment helps solve labor shortage

The business, which won a national award for its slow-smoked, dry-rubbed “country” bacon last year, benefited in two ways from the $80,000 and $55,000 grants it got via the program, he said.

It allowed for the purchase of a higher-speed “stuffer” that packages sausage, jerky and hamburger. That, in turn, made the business more efficient, negating the need to add another worker to its staff of five full-time and two part-time employees.

“The biggest problems that we’ve seen, and it’s that way across the nation, is finding help,” Gentert said. “The old labor pool isn’t very deep in little old Holstein.”

The 76 grant recipients were chosen by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture through the Independent Processor Assistance Program established by the State Legislature.

Sherry Vinton, the state agriculture director, said increased capacity at small meat processors can lead to new product development and marketing opportunities, “which are good for Nebraska’s economy.”

Of the 76 grant recipients this year, 50 — like Gentert Packing — also received grants in 2022.

Gentert, who is active with both the Nebraska and national meat processing associations, said the grants have helped many of his colleagues in the business upgrade their equipment and expand their markets.

“It’s been a godsend,” he said.