RAPID CITY, S.D. — Plans were announced Friday for a $1.1 billion, 8,000 head per day processing facility that will be constructed in western South Dakota.
Kingsbury & Associates and Sirius Realty of Rapid City, S.D. and Greenville, S.C. are teaming up to have a 1 million square foot facility that will process beef and include a specialty bison line.
“Our aim is to restore competition in American meat processing,” said President and Managing Partner Megan Kingsbury. “I am a fifth generation producer from Western South Dakota, and I know how difficult it is right now for us as producers to be profitable. I want to fix that. We want to compete with the big four meat packing giants and be that all-important “second bidder” in the cash market. We will build a brand that is America first focusing on procuring American cattle and feeding American citizens affordable, high-quality protein as our first priority. Our grocery store shelves should never be empty of meat again.”
The facility will focus on bringing in and developing new technologies in robotics and artificial intelligence that will make processing easier, safer and more efficient. With these new technologies, they will be able to produce a more consistent end product.
“With graduates from the South Dakota School of Mines, Dakota State University, and others, we have the technological experts to build a high-tech facility never seen before in the United States, right here. We want to attract these young people to live and work here in Rapid City with great paying jobs and by helping build a great community to live in. I plan to live here for the next 50 years, and I want to build a community we are all proud of,” Kingsbury added.
The facility is looking just south of Rapid City at the recently announced Black Hills Industrial Park adjacent to Highway 79 and Old Folsom Road for its home.
“Our priorities include being the best neighbor anyone could ask for. We will employ and develop technologies to mitigate any negative effect people may associate with processing facilities. We will capture the methane to help power the facility, utilize renewable energy sources, we will recycle a majority of the water used daily, and we have been working on efficient transportation plans as well,” Kingsbury said. “The American rancher is less than a generation away from being extinct if we don’t do something fast. We’ve already seen the high cost of meat in stores and the low prices producers are receiving for their animals. There is profit in this industry up and down the supply chain if we restore competition. When that happens everyone who produces and consumes high-quality beef wins.”
The project is expected to create 2,500 jobs and take three years to complete.
