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Following concern over consolidation in meat packing, alternatives including cooperative and local plants are under consideration prompted in part by the disruptions that occurred during the first half of 2020 as a result of COVID and the 2019 fire in the Tyson Foods Holcomb KS. plant.    Sustainable Beef LLC is proposing to erect a 300,000 square foot processing plant in North Platte, NE to process up to 400,000 head of cattle annually.

According to the CEO of the company, David Briggs, suitably-zoned land has been identified and construction could commence during the fall of the current year to commence production during early 2023.

Sustainable Beef LLC is a subsidiary of Westco, a cooperative located in Alliance, NE.  Promoters of the project include prominent cattle feeders in Bridgeport, Answorth and Hershey, NE. currently supplying existing plants Leadership of the project is vested in Better Beef LLC formed by previous Cargill executives with appropriate experience in processing, supply chain management and marketing.

Rancher Rusty Kemp, a promoter noted, "we are not looking to take on the big four packers, but there's a lot of room to operate between a 5,000 head a day plant and a local butcher".

The proposed site is located over a dry sewer lagoon south of the North Platte wastewater treatment plant.  Construction of the plant will require raising the level of the land by at least four foot contributing to the $300 million projected cost.