Meat processing co-op holds tours

Montana Premium Processing Cooperative, which will process its first cow this week, held tours of its facility Sunday for locals interested in its future work or potentially investing.

The user-owned co-op's steering committee was started three years ago with the help of Montana Farmers Union and is part of a larger effort to increase local processing and packing capacity as the industry becomes increasingly consolidated.

Montana Premium Processing Board Chair Paul Neubauer led the tours Sunday, bringing people through the facility showing them its various areas, explaining how it all wor...