Competition is a driving force of a healthy and efficient industry. Adding a large-scale packing plant to the equation is good news for the entire beef industry, especially for ranchers near North Platte, Nebraska.
Every cattleman has likely thought about opening a packing plant of their own at one point or another. A few of them finally took a leap of faith and Sustainable Beef was born. It quickly took on a life of its own.
“Rusty Kemp lit the fire and started talking to people about the idea; he got the right people involved at the right time in the right place and away it went,” said Trey Wasserburger who is one of the founding ranching families of the plant. “The talks began in August 2020, and it’s been an incredibly hard process ever since. It seems like everything that could go wrong, did.”
The uphill battle was just another day on the job for the cattlemen and their families who came together as Sustainable Beef. The aftermath of COVID coupled with inflation made funding the most difficult part of the process. David Briggs, one of the founders, became the point man on this piece of the puzzle. Hailing from Alliance, Nebraska, Briggs capitalized on his connection with Bill Rupp was the former CEO of Cargill and JBS to get Wal-Mart on the phone.
“Our job as producers, and now packers, is to increase the demand for American beef and sell it for as much as we can to help improve profit margins for our customers,” Wasserburger said. “Partnering with the largest retailer of American beef was, and is, a big deal. That partnership was pivotal for breaking ground on the plant and getting to a place where we’re just about ready to open.”
Taking minority stakes in the plant, Wal-Mart helped make the 556,000-square-foot facility a reality after coming on board in 2022. The other stakeholders include seven different ranching families all from Western Nebraska. The decision makers of Sustainable Beef not only live in the area but many of them have been in the cattle industry for multiple generations.
“There are a few other packing plants like this one, but nothing exactly the same and certainly none of them in the Midwest,” Wasserburger said. “There are more cattle than people in Nebraska and so this is a game changer for the Beef State. This plant is good for my family, it’s good for the community and it’s certainly a win for the industry.”
Settling on North Platte for the location was easy because of its proximity to Interstate 80 and a strong supply of cattle straight from the feedlots.
Now set to begin operations in April, Sustainable Beef will have a billion-dollar impact on the North Platte community. Not only will the plant add more jobs for those already living in the area, but it will also recruit and retain young talent back to the Sandhills. Wasserburger expects many of those individuals to be native to North Platte who have the opportunity to return home thanks to Sustainable Beef.
“When this all started, our main focus was the packing capacity and creating another market for our cattle, but it’s evolved quite a bit in the last five years,” Wasserburger said. “It’s turned into a way to bring people back to the area and giving them a place to work, a place focused on family and community.”
Over 800 team members will fill the building on opening day as the first head step into the holding pens. Almost 1,000 head can be in the pens outside while the facility processes up to 1,500 cattle during a single day shift, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The facility is set up for efficiency without sacrificing quality. It only takes an hour for a live animal to go through the entire harvest process and land in the hotbox where carcasses hang for 48 hours after getting a cold spray chill to mitigate shrinking.
An on-site USDA grader, along with a camera grading system – MEQ – will keep the fabrication process top notch. Customers can be confident that every pound of ground beef is accurately packaged according to lean point, e.g. 90/10; 80/20; 70/30, thanks to the six extruders ready to get to work.
The state-of-the-art facility began hiring almost a year ago when they brought on Ryan Wagnon as the general manager alongside Mark Nelson who is head of cattle procurement.
“Everyone involved in this project worked with the big four packing plants, none of which are local to this part of the state, and our main goal was to give area ranchers another avenue for selling their cattle,” Wasserburger added. “Another buyer in the seat adds extra competition and that’s great for the industry. It’s also a win for everyone to have Wal-Mart invest in rural America.”
Dubbed the biggest little beef plant in the US, Sustainable Beef is in the process of hiring for a wide variety of roles. For more information about Sustainable Beef, visit www.sustbeef.com.