NORTH PLATTE, NEB. — Sustainable Beef LLC confirmed the completion of its $400 million plant that was nearly six years in the making. To mark the occasion, 1,200 people gathered on March 24 for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the North Platte, Neb., beef processing plant.

“You see that it’s our ranchers that are coming together to work together to create this facility to be able to get better prices for their cattle,” said Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts in an interview with KNOP during the event. “That’s where you got the founders like Rusty Kemp that worked hard to pull together that group of investors and find the right people to invest in this place so that we can create this great institution in Nebraska that’s going to be so much for our state and for the community of North Platte.”

The 560,000-square-foot facility broke ground in October 2022. Sustainable Beef plans to be fully operational by the summer 2025, with a processing capacity of approximately 1,500 head per day and 850 employees.

Funding for the project was supported by $20 million of Nebraska’s American Rescue Act funds and through a partnership with Walmart.

Walmart will help bring beef from the North Platte facility to consumers nationwide once the plant begins operating. As part of the equity investment, the retailer will have representation on Sustainable Beef’s board of directors.

“We are thrilled to be here today to work with Sustainable Beef and help create more capacity for the beef industry and help ensure more long-term sustainable growth for cattle ranchers, for family farms and for Walmart,” said Tyler Lehr, senior vice president at Walmart, at the ribbon cutting ceremony.