Tribal Nations To Use Millions In COVID-19 Relief To Invest In Jobs, Food Sustainability

The Cherokee, Osage and Creek Nations are all investing millions of dollars in coronavirus relief money into meat processing plants.

Cherokee Nation leaders said the COVID-19 pandemic has presented food supply challenges for their elderly and vulnerable members.

Deputy Chief Bryan Warner said a solution they have been planning for years is to create their own food force, by building their own personal meat plant.

"I think it kind of dovetailed in a unique way, and we said, ‘good can come out of this, a sustainable way good can come out of this,’” Warner said. “Have some type of product to supply people's needs.”

The 12,000 square foot plant sits right outside Tahlequah and was formally a horticulture nursery. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the Cherokee Nation is investing $1 million of CARES Act funds they received into the plant that will initially create seven jobs.

"When I think of seven jobs, I think of seven Cherokee families, which are households that are able to sustain themselves and create opportunities within their households and their communities," Hoskin said. 

The facility will process meats such as pork, beef and bison. Initially, it will serve just Cherokee citizens and programs, but the tribe plans to eventually expand to commercial marketplaces.

Hoskin said this is more than a plant, it's an investment in food sovereignty. 

"It means of taking control of where our food comes from and how it's produced and also doing things sustainably,” Hoskin said. “Not that it's just here for today or during the pandemic or even a year from now, but that it's here for a generation or more.”

The tribe said the facility will be completed by the end of the year. 

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation announced plans in early October to build a $10 million meat processing plant south of the tribe’s Duck Creek Casino a few miles south of Glenpool on U.S. 75. The Osage Nation is also building a meat processing plant from the ground up in Hominy, which the tribe says is scheduled to be completed by January 2021.