Vance announces $57M grant boost for meatpacking facilities

Vice President Vance announced Monday that the Agriculture Department is investing millions of dollars in new grants toward meatpacking facilities.

He made the announcement while campaigning for Sen. Roger Marshall (R) in Kansas. The vice president said the grants would go toward 10 meatpacking facilities in the state, adding that it “could not have happened without Doc Marshall.”

The Agriculture Department in a release said it is investing $57 million to boost ranchers in 40 states to expand their capacity and create “new and better markets through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program .”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the announcement builds on President Trump’s executive order “Promoting Fair Competition in Livestock Markets and Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.”

“We are focused on rebuilding the Great American Cattle Herd, and providing more local processing opportunities will continue to give confidence to our ranchers to help us fulfill this goal,” Rollins said in a statement.

The news comes amid a broader series of agricultural announcements made by Trump and Vance as they make rally stops ahead of next week’s midterms.

Last week Vance announced a $1.3 billion investment in domestic fertilizer manufacturing while stumping in Nebraska.

The last time Trump was in Kansas for Marshall he announced an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief Program that would give farmers one-time payments to offset the expensive cost of diesel amid the harvest season.

The president also said that if Marshall won, he would push to make the sale of E15 — fuel blended with 15 percent ethanol — year-round, instead of being restricted during the summer months.

Trump also signed an executive order earlier this month that expanded access to tax-exempt, red-dyed diesel . The diesel is dyed red to signal its tax-exempt status but is typically used in farm and construction equipment.