ASHLAND — Three meat processing plants in Ashland and Wayne counties will receive up to $250,000 in state grants for new equipment, training, and facilities, Gov. Mike DeWine has announced.
“These grants help food processors invest in new machinery and technology that can deliver more food, less expensively,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.
“This results in a new level of productivity that benefits the consumer with lower prices, business with more production, and the workforce with higher pay.”
In Ashland County, Heffelfinger’s Meats in Jeromesville will receive around $227,000. And in Wayne County, Beaver Wholesale Meats in Smithville will receive the maximum amount of $250,000, and Streb’s Meats in Dalton will receive around $227,000.
A large chunk of Heffelfinger’s grant money will go toward a generator for its 25,000 square-foot facility in an effort to reduce the impact of power outages on the plant, owner Rick Heffelfinger said.
“With this generator, it’ll just automatically kick on and we won’t lose production,” Heffelfinger said.
“But another big advantage to this is food-safety issues. When you’re talking about processing of any animals is what we do here, we can have as many as 150 hogs and 100 head of cattle hanging at one time. And if we lose power for an extended period of time then we’re looking at food-safety issues.”
Transmission lines for the plant frequently run through remote wooded areas where dying ash trees can drop branches and disrupt power, Heffelfinger said. The meat processing plant has experienced three power outages in 2022 alone, he added.
When an outage does occur, Rick Heffelfinger calls Firelands Electric Cooperative who often prioritizes them for power restoration in an effort to keep food safe. It normally takes only 2-3 hours for power to come back on at the plant, Heffelfinger said.
Still, Heffelfinger would rather be safe than sorry by using a generator.
“If we did have a major storm come through or something like that, and it’s gonna happen, then we could be down for days,” he said.
This is the second time this summer that Ashland meat processing plants have received state grants. In June, five local meat plants received large chunks of change in the first round of giveaways.
