(Havre) – With the Montana Premium Processing Co-op donating 1500 pounds of beef to the Havre Food Bank New Media Broadcasters sat down with Walter Schweitzer the president of the Montana Farmers Union to talk about the donation.
“You know my wife and I for years have donated our retired cows and retired bulls to the food bank, and I found out during the Covid pandemic that a bunch of the farmers union members were struggling to find places to process to sell their livestock. They were willing to donate their livestock to the food bank and we found out we couldn’t process livestock at a custom butcher for the food bank. it had to be a USDA inspected plant. So, that set the balls rolling for this co-op because I started talking to other members and found out everyone was struggling to find meat processing capacity and so we worked together and formed the Montana Premium Processing and started this about three years ago and its pretty exciting to have it up and running with about 8 employees and turning out good quality product.”
We also asked if the Co-op was working with anybody else to donate food to the community.
“So Montana Cattleman’s Association they have a grant through the Town Pump of Montana to pay for the processing of any livestock donated to the food bank. So, if you’re a farmer/rancher out there and are considering donating your livestock to the food bank Montana Cattleman’s and Farmers union we also have a program that will pay for your processing of your livestock get a hold of us at montanafarmersunion.com or at Montana Cattleman’s Association.”
