Investment in Kentucky’s meat processing capacity could soon be paying off in southcentral Kentucky.

A Russellville company called Logan Premium Meats and Processing, with help from state tax incentives and anticipated help from a new Kentucky Agricultural Development Board initiative, has announced plans to open a meat processing facility along Ky. 79 near Russellville.

The 10,500-square-foot plant on a 30-acre site, which is expected to open in the spring of 2022, will have the capacity to harvest up to 60 head of beef cattle, 60 hogs and 10 lamb and goats each week.

Chris Milam, one of the owners of the new company, said the meat processing plant will employ 10 to 15 people initially, with the potential to expand.

“It’s more of a regional project now,” he said. “But I think it’ll eventually be a statewide project. It won’t be limited to Logan County. We’re constructing it to where we can expand it.”

Milam is part of an ownership team that includes Ethan Holloway, Adam Holloway, Ricky Holloway and Phil Holloway.

As director of ingredient innovation and supplier partnerships for Champion Pet Foods in Auburn, Milam is familiar with meat processors.

“I’m in and out of meat processing facilities all over the country,” he said.

Milam said Logan Premium Meats and Processing will be a U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected facility, and he also hopes to seek certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative.

The new business will be more than a meat processor, Milam said.

“We’ll have a small retail store that’s secondary to the harvest facility,” Milam said. “We’ll include Kentucky Proud products and carry an assortment of meats.”

Tom Harned, executive director of the Logan Economic Alliance for Development, said Logan Premium Meats will be meeting a need.

“Obviously they feel that there’s a market for that service,” Harned said. “The state has been saying for some time that they want to see more of that type of activity in Kentucky.”

The need for more meat processing capacity in the state was heightened by the coronavirus pandemic, when supply chain problems and labor shortages created bottlenecks at harvest facilities.

That prompted the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board to launch the Meat Processing Investment Program that has invested more than $4 million in small processing plants.

“Of the many issues brought to the forefront by COVID-19, the need to increase meat processing in Kentucky was one of the top issues I heard from farmers as the virus led to a slowdown of processing,” state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said in an email. “In May 2020, I and the Kentucky Ag Development Board acted quickly to create a meat processing expansion program to help solve this problem. Increasing processing capacity will reduce the backlog of processing in Kentucky, which still remains due to the lingering effects of COVID-19.”

Logan Premium Meats, according to Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority documents, is a $3.8 million project. Some of that cost could be offset as the Agriculture Development Board’s investments continue.

The meat processing startup is also getting $250,000 in tax incentives over the next 10 years through KEDFA, based on meeting job targets.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.