More Kentucky meat processors are receiving grants from the U.S.

Department of Agriculture to help them expand their operations, which officials say will support the state's supply chain.

The federal grant adds up to $800,000.

One of the biggest challenges facing our livestock industry is having processing capacity to meet the needs of our farmers.

We can raise outstanding cattle, hogs, sheep and other livestock here in Kentucky, but we have to have the processing infrastructure to turn those animals into products that reach our consumers.

Our independent meat processors are critical part of that equation.

They are small businesses, family businesses, employers and important partners to our livestock producers.

They are also an essential part of keeping our agriculture dollars here in Kentucky.

Kentucky is cattle country.

And for a lot of our farm families, livestock is the paycheck.

But for too long, our producers have had two few places to take their animals.

Long waits for processing date long hauls to get there in a market controlled by handful of big players have all cost our farmers money and choices.

And families at the grocery store feel it too.

This program helps change the math.

These grants go to small and medium sized, independently owned processors.

That means more competition and more local options for our farmers.

It also builds on the president's executive order promoting fair competition in livestock markets.

More competition is also how we bring down the cost of feeding our families.

When more meat is processed closer to home with fewer middlemen and shorter supply chains, that helps keep prices in check at the meat counter.

What this means is more affordability for consumers.

It means more investment into our meat processors across the state of Kentucky to where they can finally be competitive.

This fits right in line with what we've been doing at the Department of Agriculture for the state of Kentucky, and trying to get more local options available for our consumers, not just at grocery stores, but a lot of our custom meat processors to be able to sell directly to consumers all across the state of Kentucky.

This will fit directly in line with our Food as Medicine program, directly in line with our school nutrition program that we're working on right here in Kentucky.

A lot of our farmers don't have the advantage of being able to take an animal from birth to the processing facility, which limits the amount of income and profitability that they can have in retaining that ownership.

What we try to do as much as possible, is to get investment for farmers to go beyond the farm gate, straight to the food plate.

Our farmers are not benefiting from those high prices the way that you would think.

They are about $0.05 to $0.08 per dollar spent at the grocery store comes back to the American farmer, to the Kentucky producer.

And so a lot of the expense that's there is beyond the farm gate.

So what this will help us do is to be able to to take that animal further in the process, to be able to get it to the grocery store, to the consumers that's out there, and hopefully put more money back in our farmers and back in rural communities across the state of Kentucky.