When Beef Producers Built Their Own Plant, They Transformed a Town

When a group of Nebraska cattle producers sat down in 2019 to talk about the challenges facing their industry, they couldn’t have predicted the transformation that would follow. After navigating 18 public hearings, seven regulatory agencies and countless obstacles, their idea become a reality. In May 2025, Sustainable Beef, a producer-owned beef processing facility in North Platte, Nebraska, officially opened its doors.

This $400 million, 550,000-square-foot facility was built to create a more sustainable, producer-driven supply chain. The idea took root during the COVID-19 pandemic, when processing bottlenecks, facility shutdowns and price disparities hit the cattle industry hard. Ranchers and feedlots raising high-quality cattle often found themselves selling into a system dominated by four major packers, leaving little room for premiums and even less control.

Sustainable Beef was born out of those challenges. As one North Platte resident put it, the project gave producers the opportunity to say, “Let’s do it ourselves.”

And they did.

Founders like Rusty and Rachael Kemp, Trey and Dayna Wasserburger, Kirk and Tracy Olson, Bob and Leanne Maxwell, and Pete and his daughter Cassie Lapaseotes saw an opportunity to create generational value for Nebraska’s beef industry. With backing from major stakeholders, including a strategic partnership with Walmart, Sustainable Beef became the first producer-owned packing plant to be built in a generation. It’s helping local producers capture more value from the premium cattle they raise and reinvesting that value back into rural Nebraska.  

Today, the plant is poised to process around 1,500 head of cattle per day with a single, family-friendly daytime shift. It is projected to employ up to 850 people, making it one of the largest employers in North Platte.

The impact extends well beyond the plant gates.

“It was one of the first pieces of a puzzle that really started to fall into place,” says Laura Troshynski, FNBO’s City Ambassador for North Platte. Since the project’s announcement, the city has seen major redevelopment: a revitalized mall, new restaurants and small businesses, a recreation center upgrade and a major hospital expansion. With new jobs and renewed energy, North Platte is growing again — something that hasn’t happened in decades.

Sustainable Beef is more than a plant. It’s a story of perseverance, vision and community.

Watch the video below to hear directly from the cattle producers who helped build Sustainable Beef and see what’s possible when a community takes control of its future.