Iowa Ag News Headlines New Guidebook for Small Meat Processing Plants Iowa Ag Connection - 04/17/2008 The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) recently released the Iowa Meat Processors' Resource Guidebook: A Guide to Building, Upgrading or Expanding a Small Meat Processing Facility. The book is a result of the Small Meat Processors Working Group's discussions, research, and hands-on work with individual meat processors. The working group formed in response to the declining number of small meat processing plants in Iowa. Their guidebook examines areas where small meat processing plants struggle: business planning and feasibility, financing and financial assistance, plant design, plant construction, labor, and government rules and regulations. The book is available in a free PDF format through the NCRCRD Web site at http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/pubs/contents/RRD189-readonly.pdf. Contact Sally Maggard, CSREES national program leader for Economic and Community Systems, at smaggard@csrees.usda.gov or Cornelia Flora, director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, at cflora@iastate.edu for more information. Copyright © 2009 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.