USDA awards CCT $16.5 million for food processing

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program has awarded the Colville Tribes a $16.5 million dollar grant to build a new food processing facility which will combine traditional and modern techniques.

The new facility will include several buildings with a total area of approximately 28,000 square feet. Construction will occur on the site of the old food processing plant on Omak Mission Road.

The processing facility will be dedicated to traditional first foods of the Colville Tribes. It will utilize state-of-the-art technology but it will also incorporate traditional tribal knowledge of food gathering and preparation. Foods will include fish, elk, deer, moose, and other traditional sources of meat such as bison. The facility will include units for new processing, cold storage, freezing, drying, smoking, fileting, packaging, and canning.

There will also be a modernized distribution center with upgraded storage capacity and safety equipment. There will be classroom space to teach traditional fishing, hunting, and processing practices to new generations.

It is anticipated that the facility will process up to 200,000 pounds of meat in a year. The increased capacity should allow the Tribes to double the amount of free, high-quality meat available to tribal members.

The Chairman of the Colville Confederated Tribes, Jarred-Michael Erickson, said, “This grant provides a fantastic opportunity for the Colville Tribes. This new processing facility will allow us to optimize our meat allotments with modern technology and greatly reduce food insecurity for tribal members. We will be more self-sufficient, which enhances our tribal sovereignty. There will also be economic opportunity and wonderful educational possibilities for our youth. I’d like to thank USDA, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the Biden Administration for funding this exciting project.”

The grant to the Colville Tribes is the largest one made as part of a larger $42 million package of grants to eight tribal nations through the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program.