USDA MPPEP Funding for Wild-Caught Catfish Processing
USDA MPPEP Wild-Caught Catfish Processing
Funding Opportunity Number: RD-RBS-26-03-MPPEP
Funding Agency: USDA Rural Development Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Total Funding Available: $6 Million
Minimum Award: $50,000
Maximum Award: Lesser of $2 Million or 80% of Total Project Costs
Cost Share Requirement: At Least 20% of Total Project Costs
Application Deadline: December 7, 2026
Program Overview
The USDA Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) Wild-Caught Catfish Processing funding opportunity provides competitive grants to help eligible processors build, expand, renovate, and equip facilities that process invasive, wild-caught catfish.
Administered by USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service, the program is intended to expand processing capacity while supporting food supply chain resilience and creating additional markets for invasive catfish harvested from U.S. waters.
USDA has made $6 million available through this funding opportunity. Grants range from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum equal to the lesser of $2 million or 80% of total eligible project costs.
What the MPPEP Wild-Caught Catfish Program Supports
This round of MPPEP funding focuses specifically on increasing processing capacity and throughput for invasive, wild-caught catfish.
Eligible projects may support:
- Construction of new processing facilities
- Purchase of inoperable processing facilities
- Purchase of associated real estate
- Renovation of existing processing facilities
- Retrofits to existing facilities
- Purchase of new processing equipment
- Upgrades to existing equipment
- Improvements that increase processing capacity
- Projects that increase overall facility throughput
The program is intended to improve processing efficiency and expand the infrastructure available to move invasive wild-caught catfish from harvest into commercial markets.
Why Wild-Caught Catfish Processing Capacity Matters
This funding opportunity addresses two related challenges: the need for additional domestic processing capacity and the ecological and commercial effects associated with invasive catfish.
Increasing processing capacity can provide commercial outlets for harvested invasive catfish while supporting fishing communities and seafood processors. At the same time, greater market demand and processing capability can support efforts to reduce invasive species that damage marine ecosystems and negatively affect fishing industries.
Processing infrastructure is a critical part of that equation. Harvesting additional fish provides limited commercial value if processors lack the equipment, labor, cold storage, handling systems, or facility throughput necessary to move the product efficiently into the food supply chain.
Eligible Applicants
The MPPEP Wild-Caught Catfish Processing funding opportunity is available to several types of organizations.
Eligible applicants include:
- For-profit entities
- Nonprofit entities
- Producer-owned cooperatives and corporations
- Certified benefit corporations
- Tribes and Tribal entities
- State government entities
- Local government entities
Private entities must be independently owned and operated. All eligible entities must be domestically owned.
Funding and Cost Share Requirements
USDA has allocated $6 million to this MPPEP funding opportunity.
- Total Program Funding: $6 million
- Minimum Grant: $50,000
- Maximum Grant: Lesser of $2 million or 80% of total project costs
- Minimum Cost Share: 20% of total project costs
- Application Deadline: December 7, 2026
Applicants must identify the sources and amounts of funding that will cover the project’s total cost. Establishing the required matching funds should therefore be part of project planning rather than something addressed at the end of the application process.
Planning a Competitive Processing Expansion Project
A processing expansion project involves more than purchasing equipment or adding square footage. Facility improvements need to work as an integrated system capable of reliably increasing throughput while maintaining product quality, worker safety, regulatory compliance, and operating efficiency.
Before committing capital, project teams should understand where existing processing constraints occur and how proposed investments will address them.
Important questions may include:
- What currently limits facility throughput?
- How much additional processing capacity is realistically required?
- Will new equipment create bottlenecks elsewhere in the process?
- Are refrigeration and cold-storage systems adequate for increased volume?
- Can receiving, processing, packaging, storage, and shipping capacity remain balanced?
- Are utilities sufficient for expanded operations?
- What facility modifications are necessary to accommodate new equipment?
- How will increased production affect staffing and operating costs?
- Is there sufficient supply of invasive wild-caught catfish to support the planned capacity?
- Are there established markets for the additional finished product?
Answering these questions early can help applicants develop projects that increase useful processing capacity rather than simply adding equipment.
Facility Expansion and Equipment Considerations
Equipment selection should be based on the requirements of the entire processing operation.
Depending on the facility and project scope, an expansion may need to consider:
- Receiving and raw-product handling
- Processing and preparation equipment
- Conveying and material movement
- Packaging systems
- Refrigeration and freezing
- Cold storage
- Water and wastewater requirements
- Electrical and utility capacity
- Sanitation systems
- Food safety requirements
- Employee workflow and safety
- Finished-product storage and shipping
Evaluating these systems together can reduce the risk of solving one production constraint while unintentionally creating another.
Connecting Processing Capacity With Supply and Markets
A processing facility ultimately sits between two markets: the supply of raw material entering the plant and the customers purchasing finished products.
For wild-caught catfish projects, both sides require careful evaluation.
Applicants should consider the availability, seasonality, geographic concentration, logistics, and expected volumes of invasive catfish that could supply the facility. Processing assumptions should be based on realistic supply conditions rather than theoretical maximum harvest volumes.
The market side is equally important. Increased processing capacity needs sufficient demand for finished products, whether those products are sold through foodservice, retail, institutional, wholesale, or other channels.
Aligning supply, processing capacity, and market demand helps create a more credible operating plan and reduces the risk of building capacity that cannot be consistently utilized.
How LEC Partners Supports Food Processing Expansion Projects
Processing expansion projects require coordination across facility design, equipment, operations, supply chains, markets, project economics, and implementation.
LEC Partners works with project developers, processors, investors, lenders, cooperatives, and public-sector organizations to evaluate these interconnected risks before significant capital is committed.
Our network of more than 150 subject-matter experts can support areas including:
- Independent feasibility studies
- Technical and commercial due diligence
- Facility and equipment assessments
- Processing capacity and bottleneck analysis
- Supply chain evaluation
- Feedstock and raw-material assessments
- Market analysis
- Capital and operating cost review
- Project development planning
- Funding strategy and implementation support
The objective is to help project teams determine whether proposed investments are technically practical, commercially supportable, and structured for successful implementation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the USDA MPPEP Wild-Caught Catfish Processing funding opportunity?
It is a USDA Rural Development grant opportunity supporting projects that increase processing capacity for invasive, wild-caught catfish through new facilities, facility acquisitions, renovations, retrofits, and equipment investments.
How much funding is available?
USDA has made $6 million available through the program.
What is the maximum grant award?
The maximum award is the lesser of $2 million or 80% of the project’s total cost. The minimum award is $50,000.
Is a cost share required?
Yes. Applicants must provide at least 20% of the total project cost and identify the sources and amounts of project funding in their applications.
Can funding be used to build a new processing facility?
Yes. The opportunity includes construction of new facilities as well as the purchase of inoperable facilities and associated real estate, renovations, retrofits, and processing equipment investments.
Who can apply?
Eligible applicants include qualifying for-profit and nonprofit entities, producer-owned cooperatives and corporations, certified benefit corporations, Tribes and Tribal entities, and state or local government entities. Private entities must be independently owned and operated, and eligible entities must be domestically owned.
When is the application deadline?
Applications are due December 7, 2026.
Talk With an Expert
LEC Partners brings together more than 150 specialists with experience across processing, supply chains, feasibility, due diligence, project development, and facility implementation. We help organizations evaluate whether proposed expansion projects are technically practical, commercially supportable, and structured to reduce implementation risk.
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