A joint federal-provincial initiative will see almost $150,000 in funding for Canada Meat Group in North Bay to increase production and expand operations.
The company's federally regulated facility, located at the Jack Garland Airport Industrial Business Park, produces Canadian beef and Canadian halal beef products from animals sourced from Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
It will use the funding, allocated through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, to purchase a vacuum sealer and shrink tank to increase production.
“The new equipment allows us to keep our current business and even start a new division,” said Oleksandr Zahrebelnyi, owner of Canada Meat Group.
The money is part of $7 million being spent to quickly increase production and efficiency in meat-processing plants across the province.
Through the Partnership, 74 projects are receiving cost-share funding to purchase or upgrade equipment that will improve production and safety measures in free-standing meat plants and abattoirs in Ontario.
According to a news release, the program is focused on measures that could quickly increase processing capacity as the industry deals with a shortage of processing capacity, partly related to COVID slowdowns.
“The COVID pandemic has made it more difficult for our farmers to find the processing capacity that they needed and these investments are part of our rapid response to help both our farmers and our local processing industry to overcome these challenging times,” said MPP Vic Fedeli in the release.
– BayToday
