On May 27 a proposed $1.1 billion beef and bison packing plant for Rapid City, South Dakota owned by Kingsbury and Associates, along with Sirius Realty. They’ve now announced the name and a new partnership.
The plant will be called “Western Legacy Development Corporation” and the group is partnering with Farmers Union Industries on the bi-product side. The 8000-head per day facility would be the largest in the country, raising questions about procurement. Officials say they’ve been working with feedyards in western South Dakota that have closed in recent years and will pull cattle from across the nation. This also isn’t the first meat processing facility that has been proposed in South Dakota.
While the project is drawing skepticism, state officials are remaining cautiously optimistic.
Hunter Roberts, SD Dept. of Environ & Natural Resources Secretary says, “You know I’m hopeful that it happens. I think there’s a lot of great opportunities for our producers in South Dakota from that and just another look at kind of diversifying the industry is great. You know I think its early to see where its going to end up.”
Officials have been working with the South Dakota congressional delegation on possible economic development programs at the federal level. Although it is too large to qualify for USDA’s current program. The CEO says they’ll be detailing their research and development phase over the next six month and will break ground at the beginning of 2023. The project will take three years to complete.
This isn’t the first meat processing facility that has been proposed in South Dakota. When now Senator Mike Rounds was Governor of the state he led efforts to develop a South Dakota certified beef program with four regional packing plants to be built in the state.
