Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Alaska agricultural officials recently turned down the sole bid to purchase the state-run slaughterhouse in Palmer. But they say they are looking for ways to prevent the plant, a key resource for Valley farmers, from closing at the end of the year.

Ray Nix, a state natural resource specialist, said he will present options for keeping the Mt. McKinley Meat & Sausage Co. plant open to the state Board of Agriculture and Conservation at its meeting Sept. 6 in Palmer.

Nix said options could include trying to lease instead of sell the plant to a private operator. He declined to give further details, saying he was still working on alternatives and wanted to present them to board members first.

The board is on a tight deadline to find a new operator for the slaughterhouse because a current board-approved plan calls for shutting down the plant at the end of year.

Officials say they want to sell the plant because it loses money and a private operator could better serve farmers.

Some farmers, however, say if no one steps in to take over the plant or start a new one, some Southcentral farms could go under.

Farmers rely on the plant, which butchers about 1,200 animals a year, because it is one of only a handful of slaughterhouses in the state with federal certification, a requirement for selling meat to the public. Without it, the next-closest certified plant is in Delta Junction.

Three times previously, the state has tried and failed to sell the plant, which it took over in the mid-1980s after a private operator went bankrupt. As with those previous efforts, a major problem this time was a requirement that the buyer continue to operate the plant as a slaughterhouse.

Bob Franklin, who operates B-Y Farms, a meat-processing facility near Fairbanks, was the sole responder to a state plea earlier this year for proposals to purchase the plant. Franklin said he couldn't get financing because the state stipulated he operate the plant as a slaughterhouse for three years or forfeit it back to the state.

No one wanted to lend him money without the collateral to back it up, he said. Franklin said he is still interested in taking over the plant if the board can come up with an option that allows him to get financing.

In addition to in-house options, a nonprofit group, the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, has expressed interest in helping get the plant into private hands.

Ian Laing, a consultant for the nonprofit, said the group could help find government grants for a potential operator, link them with experts in the slaughterhouse field and provide help with business plans at a subsidized cost.

If a buyer can't be found to operate the plant, the state plans to sell the slaughterhouse and the 3.5 acres it sits on without restrictions, which means the plant could be closed for good.