USDA awards $1.2 million to two meat processors, one in Guaynabo
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency awarded $1,195,640 in grants to expand meat and poultry processing in Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día reported. The awards were presented on November 6 at the Guaynabo facilities of the Cooperativa de Porcicultores de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.
The cooperative received $477,999 and Ganaderos Alvarado Inc. received $717,641 through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, the outlet reported. The money backs improvements and expansions of the processing operations at both businesses.
The plant in Mamey
In August the cooperative opened the Puerto Rico Meat Processing Center in Guaynabo, a $2.8 million plant of which $2.52 million came from USDA Rural Development, the outlet reported. It can process up to 100 cattle a day from Monday to Thursday and 400 pigs on Fridays, and it projects 12.5 million pounds of beef and 2.7 million pounds of pork a year and about 140 direct and indirect jobs.
The cooperative's permit filings in Guaynabo all point to one property, at Carretera 835, Mamey, Guaynabo. It covers 53,437 square meters, most of it zoned for industry. On May 11, 2026, the cooperative filed a single permit there, recorded as approved, for the slaughter and processing of cattle and pigs in a facility that has held a use permit since June 11, 1985.
A power generator permit followed, filed on June 30, 2026 and recorded as approved. A further single permit application for the same operation, filed on September 1, 2026, is recorded as incomplete.
Meat has been the property's trade for years. Filings in 2020 and 2024 sought permits for a butcher shop selling and processing beef, pork, turkey and chicken, and a 2025 filing proposed a sausage plant. No sale deed to the cooperative appears on the property; the last sale deed dates from April 9, 2010.
The cooperative has also bought land. It paid $1,800,000 for a farm property at Carretera 730, Matón Arriba, Cayey in a sale deed recorded on June 23, 2026. The same day, a $1,903,920 mortgage on the property in favor of Fidecoop, the cooperative development fund that also helped finance the Guaynabo plant, was recorded. On September 1, 2026 the cooperative filed an application to raise pigs there, recorded as incomplete.