Governor Greg Gianforte visits Sidney, tours local meat plant

SIDNEY, M.T. — As part of his 56-county tour of Montana, Governor Greg Gianforte made a stop in Richland County, touring a local meat processing plant.

Eastern Montana Meats is a family-owned plant that opened up last December. Governor Greg Gianforte met with owner Steve Lunderby and his son Dillon to see how things are going.

“What they accomplished in a year is amazing,” said Gianforte.

The family showed the governor how the process works, and how exciting it is to send out Montana meat to the world.

“It’s pretty awesome to see your product on the shelf with everybody else’s,” said Dillon Lunderby, cattle buyer.

The plant has had its share of challenges since opening, from COVID-19 to competing with bigger operations. Steve says capital and getting support from the banks is his biggest concern.

“You invest your money, you build it, you get it up and going and you think you think you got collateral to use to borrow operating money and they don’t look at it that way,” said Steve Lunderby.

Gianforte says small plants like Eastern Montana Meats helps local ranchers find better prices compared to larger companies.

“Our ranchers haven’t been getting a fair price for their beef and all their hard work. Montana produces the best beef in the world and yet people can’t buy a Montana steak until we build more Montana processing capacity,” said Gianforte.

Right now, the facility employs more than 80 workers. Labor and training have kept them from seeing a profit, but Steve says they are just now operating in the black and expect to see their numbers improve.

Eastern Montana Meats processes 60 head a day and Steve Lunderby says he hopes to be up to 100 by the end of the year.