Proposed Florida Meat Plant Voted Down by Alachua County Board of Commissioners

Aug. 24, 2023

Plan to build a 10,000-square-foot meat-processing facility in Newberry, Fla., said to be effectively dead in the water after board meeting.

Andy Hanacek

A hotly debated, controversial proposal to build a new meatpacking plant in Newberry, Fla., was effectively killed this week by the Alachua County Board of Commissioners, who approved a motion to stop planning for the facility, according to local news reports.

The proposed, 10,000-square-foot meat-processing plant went through a months-long saga of debate and protests in city and county meetings, as well as having a $1.75 million funding initiative vetoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this summer.

Alachua County residents were present at the meeting, and Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe had said that his city was ready to move forward on the proposal with the county’s support. The board voted 3-2 to approve the motion to kill the plan, with the chair of the county commission expressing her support for the facility (as one of the two voting against the motion to stop the plan).

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.