U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small visits Manitowoc and Kaukauna, Oct. 30, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) –U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small made a few stops in Northeast Wisconsin Wednesday to highlight investments in rural communities.
Torres Small first traveled to Manitowoc, where she visited a fertilizer production facility. She announced $20 million will go toward helping small businesses in rural areas in Wisconsin and nationwide create additional income opportunities, modernize equipment, adopt new technologies and lower costs for both producers and consumers.
It’s a small sum of the $1.4 billion in total that has been invested in less than four years.
Later in the day, Torres Small toured Haen Meat Packing, Inc. — a butcher shop in Kaukauna. She explained how recent investments are increasing competition, creating jobs and expanding market access for producers.
“Whether you’re buying meat or you’re raising it, local and regional processing is a crucial part of the process. Making sure that consumers can have a local product that’s also a fair price and making sure farmers can get access to processing when they need it that’s reliable,” Torres Small said.
“By investing in local and regional meat processing, we’re helping support the food supply chain and investing in local businesses and robust, thriving towns,” she added.
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