Yellowstone River Beef’s export business is expanding – Agweek
WILLISTON, N.D. — Yellowstone River Beef in Williston is growing its plant to hold up with growing desire.
Yellowstone River Beef, a U.S. Division of Agriculture-inspected plant, processes beef from cattle purchased from ranches in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana and ships it overseas to Asian and Center East international locations.
“We’re the largest exporter in North Dakota of beef. We’re not big, but we do a good quantity,” claimed Trevor Abell, Yellowstone River Beef CEO.
Enterprise house owners Abell, Jamie Aqidius and Brandon Forseth opened the plant in July 2019 immediately after paying for it from Prairie Packing, a local beef processor that experienced been butchering cattle for regional customers.
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The Yellowstone River Beef expansion will full an supplemental 10,000 feet of processing house. The company’s job includes introducing a flash freezer that every will maintain 5 containers of 40,000 kilos.
The plant, which has about 20 total-time personnel, hopes to enhance that to at minimum 50 following the growth is finished, Abell said.
The North Dakota Division of Agriculture’s Agricultural Diversification and Improvement fund awarded Yellowstone River Beef $250,000 to develop the plant’s processing capability and enhance the developing.
The Add fund, administered by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and the Bank of North Dakota, was designed to aid new or expanding value-added agricultural businesses, which have demonstrated economic feasibility, improved profitability for farmers and ranchers, made positions and enhanced North Dakota’s economy, the department claimed. Assignments that are suitable for Increase funding incorporate commodity processing amenities, animal production amenities and foods output and processing services.
The goal day for completion of Yellowstone River Beef’s enlargement task is this fall, Abell mentioned.
Moreover exporting beef, the organization also sells regionally lifted beef and wagyu, its specialty, in a storefront in Williston and tailor made processes beef for nearby ranchers. Yellowstone River Beef pivoted from strictly an export business enterprise to offering locally when the COVID-19 pandemic strike in early 2020, Abell mentioned.
Ann Bailey / Agweek
“We were being ready to truly do perfectly in that hole of things remaining shut down,” he stated.
Now, the company’s focus all over again is on exports, despite the fact that it continue to maintains the storefront at 6 East Dakota Parkway in Williston, the place it sells beef in retail-sized offers.
Abell, an Oregon indigenous, has 12 many years of agricultural commodity export knowledge and is Yellowstone River Beef CEO. Aqidius handles finance and sales, and Smith does the marketing and advertising for the enterprise.
“We have been seeking a great position to grow our organization. When this assets arrived for sale, we made a decision to bounce on it,” Abell stated.
Yellowstone River Beef bought an first economical improve from the Williston Metropolis Commission on Aug. 13, 2019, which awarded the company a $72,000 grant from the Williston STAR Fund to order and renovate the previous Prairie Packing small business.
“North Dakota has been an exceptional state to do small business,” Abell said.
