A slaughterhouse coming to York Institute thanks to a state grant awarded to Fentress County.
York Institute Director of Schools John Bush said the $3.4 million project will be a USDA-certified facility and will play a major role in the school’s agriculture program. Bush said the facility will allow students to learn how to handle cattle from conception to consumption.
“The hamburgers that we will be eating here at York Institute in our cafeteria will be literally beef products that have been brought from the moment of conception all the way to a good, fresh meal here at school and never leave the property,” Bush said. “We will be the only high school in the United States that has a conception to consumption program.”
Bush said the facility will help train students to become butchers, providing a major boost to the local agricultural industry as the trade has become increasingly scarce in Tennessee. He said local cattle farmers often wait more than a year to access processing services needed to produce beef and pork products.
“What we are trying to do is teach a skill trade to our young people, so that way we can help provide a labor source here in the Upper Cumberland of folks or young people with those necessary skills for our local businesses. We also want to be a local assistance to our local farmers, and so we will be doing custom work as well for the community.”
Bush said Fentress County is the eighth among cattle-producing counties in the state. Bush said that alongside the slaughterhouse, the school will provide a standalone meat shop, which is an amenity that Jamestown has not had in over 100 years.
Bush said the county applied for $940,000 and was actually awarded $970,000. Bush said he was over the moon to hear that the county was awarded the grant.
“We could not accomplish this without this grant, so we are just beyond thrilled,” Bush said. “We had to have the county commission and county executive support on this because, as a state school, we could not directly apply for it, so they did that on our behalf, and it just shows what the local support (is).
Bush said the school is applying for other grants to hopefully help cover the rest of the project cost. Bush said the facility is also being proposed to be in the governor’s budget for this year.
Bush said the school still has to design the facility and determine where on campus the facility will be built. Bush said he hopes to begin construction sometime in 2027.