By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist
The country’s only beef producer-owned processing plant is set to break ground in Amarillo next year.
Producer Owned Beef announced its plans at a ceremony in Amarillo Aug. 10.
The group was awarded $12.2 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, along with a Veteran Created Job Bonus of $8,000.
“Producer Owned Beef’s selection of Amarillo for its new beef processing plant further reinforces the Panhandle as a leader in U.S. beef and beef production and will create over 1,5000 new jobs and millions in investment for the region,” Abbott said in a press release. “We welcome Producer Owned Beef and look forward to working with the company to keep Texas the economic engine in the nation.”
Producer Owned Beef also received support from the Amarillo City Council and the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (AEDC). The AEDC approved incentives of up to $11.1 million to establish the state-of-the-art facility.
The plant will have the capacity to process 3,000-plus head of cattle per day and plan to open in late 2025.
“We have had tremendous support from the city of Amarillo, the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, the county and the Highland Park Independent School District,” Cassie Fish, executive vice president of Producer Owned Beef, said. “Everybody has gotten behind this project on the local and state level, and Amarillo is the best place to locate the plant.”
The number of cattle surrounding Amarillo is one of the reasons for the location. Other reasons include the thriving business community within the area and supporting cattle producers in the region.
“There are more cattle on feed within 100 to 150 miles of the city of Amarillo than any other place in the world, so that is the primary reason,” Fish said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Another reason is that the vibrant business community, there’s workforce in the entire high plains region, in the processing industry. And last and certainly not least, Texas is the number one cattle breeding state, and it is number three in processing capacity, so bringing an additional processing capacity to Texas will support the cattle ranchers in this entire region.”
The facility will be built with the latest technology and designed for movement with wide hallways and natural lighting and energy efficiency as a priority. The facility also will include an advanced wastewater treatment facility to use the water to irrigate silage.
“We’re going to clean the water up beyond stream, discharge so that we can actually farm with it. We were blessed to be awarded about 1,000 acres on the outside east side of Amarillo,” Fish said. “We intend to put in some center pivots and actually raise hay in the summer and winter crop in the winter, rye or wheat, and with our waters, so we can basically produce forage for silage.”
Fish noted there are potentially over 100 producers in ownership.
“We do have folks as far away as Hawaii and even Canada, but they are required to have the cattle fed here in eastern New Mexico or the Oklahoma Panhandle or in Texas. So, they can live anywhere, but the cattle need to be fed here a minimum of 100 days on feed,” Fish said. “This is going to bring some cattle on feed in the state, but most of the producers are from, I would say, within a couple hundred miles.”
The new facility will allow Texas cattle producers to access the value chain.
“What our structure will allow is the producer to capture that profit on the processing side and keep that money in the state of Texas and in the region, and actually to take that profit from the processing plant, and then invest that back into the businesses, that pepper the whole Texas Panhandle,” Fish said. “That’s the difference, being able to capture that additional $100 to $200 a head profit from the packing side, the processing side and being able to benefit from that plant ownership.”
In order to sell to Producer Owned Beef, ranchers will have to be a part owner.
“Those who own the plant are the ones who will produce the cattle for the plant,” Fish said. “It really is being built from the backing of rural America,” Fish said. “That’s banks, that’s producers of all stripes—small, medium and large, ranchers, stockers and cattle feeders. Everybody’s coming together to really make this happen.”
As owners of the company, producers will receive a percentage of wholesale beef prices for the cattle they supply and a share of the profits from the plant. “This is really a project that is for the future—the future of the beef industry, the independent cattle feeder, the rancher and rural America, this is for them,” Fish said. “This is to be able to capture that profit, infuse that capital and those profits back into our businesses here and into this region and strengthen it for generations to come.”
For more information, visit producerownedbeef.com.