MPPTA Client Spotlights

In Puerto Rico: A Shining Facility on a Hill

The mood was festive on August 5th as local dignitaries, cooperative development leaders, USDA’s State Rural Development Director, and Flower Hill Institute's Regional Directors joined Puerto Rican farmers beneath two tents offering shade from the searing sun on a hilltop in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

The occasion: the grand reopening of the Puerto Rico Meat Processing Center, acquired earlier this year by Cooperativa de Porcicultores de Puerto Rico, a cooperative owned by more than 70 hog producers in the region.

Not a Usual Retirement Plan

Developing a small meat processing facility probably isn’t what the average person would envision for post-retirement. Dave Endicott didn’t envision it either.

Yet, five years after stepping down from a career in higher education, he is overseeing the grand opening of a new processing facility established by Minnesota Farmers Union Foundation in Staples, MN.

Dave spent 30 years in K-12 and higher education, culminating as the Dean at Central Lakes College in Staples, MN. There, he developed a Meat Cutting and Butchery Program to address the need for skilled professionals to replace the aging butcher workforce in the upper Midwest.