Sometimes, it takes a village to expand a meat processing enterprise.
That was evident recently in the northwestern Colorado town of Craig as Deborah Fitch of Fitch Ranch Artisan Meats guided the mayor, city council members, economic development officials, lenders, and builders through the processing plant she and her husband, Cam, have steadily grown since purchasing it in 2022.
The current facility is bursting at the seams, producing the family’s branded products distributed in regional retail stores and restaurants, and processing beef and pork for fellow ranchers in the area. The point of the tour, and a subsequent meeting with the officials, was to demonstrate the need for a new facility planned across the street from the existing plant.
Last year, the Fitches were awarded a Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) grant, which will cover a portion of the $28 million project designed to process up to 100 head of cattle daily. Now, they are working to button up financing, navigate the regulatory process and finalize construction details before formally breaking ground.
The Fitch Ranch Artisan Meats expansion project is a bright ray of sunshine in a region clouded in economic uncertainty. Craig was founded as an agricultural community, but coal mining and the construction of a large coal-fired electric generating facility nearby began to replace farming and ranching as the primary economic driver half a century ago. Now, economic shock waves are rippling through the community as the aging power plant is being decommissioned, and the mines are shutting down.
The new meat processing facility will initially employ approximately 100 people and provide new opportunities for area ranchers to process their animals and develop their branded products. However, former coal miners looking to work at Fitch Ranch Artisan Meats will need training and affordable housing.
Craig's political and economic leaders are stepping up to provide that infrastructure.
“Our economic development team has been working with Deborah and Cam since the beginning,” said Mayor Chris Nichols. “Our role is to develop new housing and infrastructure to support this type of business expansion. This is a great project that will provide jobs and economic development, and in the process, new tax revenue, for our community.”
The MPPEP grant isn’t the only way that USDA is supporting the growth of Fitch Ranch Artisan Meats.
Deborah and Cam were among the first processors nationwide to adopt the new Remote Beef Grading program, which provides an affordable method for smaller processors to market products bearing the USDA Choice and Prime labels. Being able to grade their beef carcasses is crucial for the Fitches, because they are one of the smallest processors in the United States eligible to process and market products under the Certified Angus Beef label.
On the financing side, the couple is working with the Fremont County Economic Development Corporation (FEDC) to access financing that FEDC administers through USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Intermediary Lending program.
Diana Armstrong, executive director of FEDC, participated in the recent tour and noted that the project in Craig can help seed new economic development in her region on Colorado’s Eastern Slope.
"As a grantee of the USDA Meat and Poultry Intermediary Loan Program, we’re proud to support the impactful Fitch Artisan Meats project and help expand opportunities for the people of Craig as they transition from coal. As funds revolve, we will reinvest in our Fremont County communities—strengthening both local economies and Colorado’s broader food system," she noted.
The Fitchs’ expansion project is ambitious, but with the support of their village, area ranchers, former coal miners, and consumers will benefit from this new beacon of economic development in Northwest Colorado.
