MEDINA, ND (KXNET) — Kramlich-Deede Meats was recently approved for a loan that may allow the business to expand beyond the state of North Dakota.

The small Medina business was recently approved for a loan administered under the USDA Rural Development’s (USDA-RD) Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program, which allows small meat processors to refinance their existing loans with lower interest rates.

Under the program, Dakota Heritage Bank agreed to be the lead lender for administering the loan to the business in Medina.

Joe Deede and his wife, Melinda, co-own Kramlich-Deede Meats in Medina. The business has stayed in the family for a couple generations. It was first owned by his wife’s parents and became well known in the area for her father’s famous recipe sausage and pepper sticks.

“Melinda still had that recipe from years ago and people people really love it,” said Deede. “So in all our processing, we do everything in the way he used to do it, from slaughtering, to cutting it up, packaging. Those old traditional ways he taught his kids, and now they’re teaching me.”

They started by processing meat from animals raised in the Medina area and have since expanded operations as beef producers from across the state are now bringing their animals to their business to get processed.

North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC) Executive Director, Brenna Ohman says the program was made possible by a grant from USDA-RD.

“When we heard about the program through USDA Rural Development, we knew our program would fit in well with that and they provided a $10 million grant to Rural Development Finance Corporation to establish this meat and poultry re-lending program,” explained Ohman.

Deede says their new refinanced loan will help them with plans to sell their products in more stores and restaurants outside of Medina. They have plans to eventually expand their products to other businesses and markets in surrounding states.

“All these grants, they are really important to small communities, like us. If you look around our community, right now we’re doing a water and sewer project. It’s all from development grants. Were a town of 250 people. Little grants — they help out with small business,” added Deede.

Any other meat processing businesses that are interested in applying for similar loan can apply online here .

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