NORTH PLATTE, NE – The first loads of cattle were delivered to the new Sustainable Beef packing plant May 28, 2025, the first day of operation at the one-of-a-kind beef plant.
The initial loads consisted of Angus cattle from Rusty Kemp, a rancher near Tryon. That was followed by a semi-load of black angus from the Olson Farms, headquartered near Hershey. Olson Farms has three feed yards with an overall capacity of about 48,000 head. A second semi-load was due to arrive from Lapaseotes Feed Yard near Bridgeport. Lapaseotes Ltd. farm and ranch spans 30,000 acres in western Nebraska and can feed about 15,000 head of cattle.
The three cattle producers – Kemp, Olson and Lapaseotes — are founding members of Sustainable Beef.
The majority of the owners are Nebraska cattle producers. They speak of “generational talent,” the need for “generational opportunities,” and making cattle production financially sustainable, marketing their beef through their own company.
The new plant intends to only process Angus cattle. The beef will be marketed through Walmart groceries, primarily through the Midwest. Walmart is a minority owner of the company.
CEO David Briggs said 200 employees were on the job on opening day. Up to 850 workers will be hired as the plant ramps up. It is expected to reach full production by the end of the year.
Briggs said the plant will process 80 cattle a day for three weeks, and then step up to 300 a day. By the end of the year, it will process 1,500 daily.
He said about half of the initial staff of 200 employees live within 60 miles or so of North Platte. The rest have come ”from all over.” Most have experience in the packing business. He said they’ve had 2,000 applicants.
Briggs said hiring is a continual process. Employees receive a week of training before they start.
The plant will operate one shift per day, from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
Briggs, who has led the organization since the first days, said the concept took hold in September 2019 when Kemp, a McPherson County rancher, talked about it with then-Gov. Pete Ricketts. Ricketts was encouraging. He said the investment in Nebraska agriculture was worth the effort, and told Kemp he would support it.
Briggs said there have been hiccups along the way, but many things went well. The biggest boost was when city leaders said they wanted the plant in North Platte, thereby breathing life into the concept. Previous attempts to start a similar packing plant near Scottsbluff in 2017-18 failed because communities in that area were unwilling to help.
After the failures of 2017-18, a somewhat different core of ranchers and cattle feeders agreed to try again. They were frustrated by the relatively low price of live cattle, despite long workdays, personal sacrifices and significant improvements in cattle genetics over generations.
Kemp called a meeting in August 2020 of five people to formulate a game plan. Briggs outlined their basic ingredients for success, which he called the four Cs — support from the city, a supply of cattle, the capital to build it, and consumers of the beef.
He said Walmart’s commitment to the project was another major boon.
At first, even Briggs was skeptical of the proposed site, which was an abandoned city sewage lagoon. But engineers said it could be done. Fifty thousand semi-loads of fill dirt were trucked in to raise the grade above the 100-year flood plain.
“We listened to them, trusted them, and they did it,” he said.
He also praised Schmeeckle Brothers construction, the builders of the plant. The various parts of the $400 million construction project fit together, and the project stayed on schedule.
He said White House restrictions on immigration have not hurt the opening of the plant. However, the industry is concerned about the situation.
On opening day, Briggs felt “a sense of accomplishment” that the components came together to make it happen.
Early on, he coined the company motto — “The right people, the right time and the right place.”
On Wednesday, he predicted that North Platte will see the benefits. He believes that the population of the city, which has been mostly static, around 23,000 for decades, will increase to around 30,000 in a couple years.
Kemp told the Bulletin, “It only took five years, nine months and 23 days to get here. I’m very proud of our founders, community and state.”
