Charles City’s Pure Prairie Farms Hosts USDA Roundtable, Production to Start November 16
Charles City’s Pure Prairie Farms (PPF) has been awarded an almost $7 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.
To recognize the financial windfall through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP), PPF hosted a roundtable discussion Friday featuring City and County leaders, state ag officials and USDA Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary Farah Ahmad.
Brian Roelofs, chief executive officer and president for PPF said the grant will help fund an 18,000-square-foot addition to include a warehouse and distribution center and improve the plant’s employee wellness area, which hosted the roundtable.
PPF also recently received a $2.3 million dollar training grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority as well as an almost $39 million dollar USDA-backed loan designed to invest in smaller agriculture manufacturers.
The company says its first production run is planned for November 16th with approximately 40 farmer-partners and 50 team members; with goals to reach full production capacity by 2024 with more than 100 farmer-partners and 400 team members while processing around 600,000 chickens weekly.
