(Photo courtesy of The Mayor’s Office)

MEDIA RELEASE

The County of Hawaii hosted a blessing Tuesday morning to commence $4.15 million worth of improvements to the State-owned slaughterhouse in Paauilo.

Funds for the improvements were appropriated by the state Legislature and released by the governor directly to the county to implement improvements that will help secure the future of Hawaii Island’s grass-fed beef industry.

“If the rancher cannot ranch and the farmer cannot farm, we’re all in trouble. This isn’t all that we need, but it’s an important first step. We look forward to Hawaii Island being able to grow and expand our grass-fed beef industry,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said.

The proposed project will make much needed improvements in the critical areas of wastewater disposal, rendering of unusable solid waste, and refrigeration space to expand plant capacity and improve meat quality.

When complete, the plant’s capacity will increase by 40 percent and reduce the current processing backlog that makes it difficult for ranchers to bring their animals to market in a timely fashion. Improvements will also transform waste that currently goes to the landfill into useable value-added and energy producing by-products.

Improvements will also address outstanding wastewater issues.

Once complete, the improvements will create new employment opportunities and increase the economic sustainability of the Hamakua district.

“The future of beef depends on an up-to-date processing plant that can accommodate all the ranchers’ needs. Hawaii Beef Producers does, at present, three to four hundred head a month. With these improvements, we hope to increase to 600 head a month and add on 10 to 15 more employees,” said Jill Mattos of Hawaii Beef Producers.

Contracts for the work have been awarded to three separate contractors.

Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. will be responsible for expanding refrigeration capacity and installing a new dry chill box to age grass fed beef before it is marketed.

Ludwig Construction will install wastewater improvements including a new septic system and improvements to enable the recycling of wash water to irrigate surrounding pastures.

Site Engineering will make repairs to the rendering plant and install equipment that turns inedible waste into compost material and animal fat for processing into biofuels.

The rendering plant work and the wastewater system will take nine months to complete. The refrigeration improvements will begin after the holidays to reduce impact on slaughterhouse use and is scheduled for completion by the summer.

The Paauilo Slaughterhouse is owned by the state and leased to Hawaii Beef Producers, a partnership between David DeLuz Sr. and a group of ranchers.

It is one of two USDA certified slaughterhouses on Hawaii Island, where more than 75 percent of all the state’s cattle are raised.

According to the county’s recently released Food Self Sufficiency Baseline study, only about 17 percent of the beef eaten on Hawaii Island is locally produced, in spite of the fact that the cattle industry produces nearly twice the number of cattle annually that the island consumes.

Since the early 1990’s the cost of grain imports has made it too expensive for local ranchers to finish cattle locally. As a result, the bulk of the cattle industry ships young cattle to the mainland to be grown to market size and harvested there.

Local slaughter capacity has fallen dramatically in the last 20 years and needs to be revitalized before a strong local grass fed industry can re-emerge.

The cattle industry has gone through its challenges, and it continues to face challenges,” said Randy Kurohara, director of the county’s Department of Research & Development. “But this slaughterhouse and rendering facility really represents a milestone in the advancement of our grass-fed beef industry here. Increasing our capacity to produce locally-raised beef is very important to our island’s self-reliance.”