Introduction
Urban centers in the United States (US) have a high population of people residing there in search of opportunities. Iowa, which is a town located in the midwestern region in the US, has many feedlots, and aging farmers around the town practice livestock farming. There is demand for beef products in the US and Iowa, being one of the key areas where farmers have cattle, has a shortage of slaughterhouses in the city where most people have to travel miles away to Nebraska to have their cattle slaughtered (Corckery & Yaffe-Bellany, 2020).
There is an opportunity for the city council of Iowa to construct more abattoirs that shall provide revenue for the town, employ many individuals and contribute to the general economic stability in the US. This paper presents a proposal by professional slaughterhouse operators to the city council of Iowa to increase abattoirs that will allow more job opportunities. The program purposes for a mutual benefit to the farmers living around the city and the population residing in the urban area
Statement of the Problem
The presence of small-scale self-employed slaughterhouse operators has noticed the work pressure resulting from the high demand for meat around the city and other regions. Iowa has a significant number of cattle and calves where most farmers target to have a common point for slaughtering their animals upon maturity. As of January 2021, there was a total of 3.6 million heads of cattle according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Almost 900,000 are beef cows hence making Iowa have a sufficient number of cattle that are required at slaughterhouses (Doran, 2019).
The challenge is that many farmers have to transport their animals for slaughtering for approximately six hours to Nebraska as the slaughter points in Iowa are not sufficient. On the other hand, almost 3.7% of people in Iowa are unemployed and the city council should arrange to see that every person has a job within the city (Doran, 2019). One way of increasing the employment rate is by constructing an ultra-modern abattoir which shall employ around 50,000 people in the city.
Iowa has been reporting low revenues from the income taxes for its population since most people have low pay and therefore, wish to boost business in the area. Many farmers are aging and they may not have the energy to travel for long distances to get their animals slaughtered. Additionally, many livestock-rearing groups have raised concern about the increased tax rate when they visit other regions for business, a subject that is contributing to economic disparity in the city. When most people have low income, there is the likelihood to have few chances of disposing of their income on various portfolios in Iowa city (Corckery & Yaffe-Bellany, 2020). Therefore, Iowa city should leverage the three issues so that the city can be stable in terms of agriculture and other ventures. The professional abattoir operators have engaged the local government to address the problem entirely and the result should benefit the community, the town, and the US.
Possible Solution to the Problem
To offer more opportunities for employment in Iowa city, or give farmers proximity in slaughterhouses and also raise revenue, the city council has various issues to undertake. First, the group proposes that the local government should look for an appropriate area a few kilometers from the town and set an abattoir that would serve as a central point for slaughtering animals. Secondly, there is a proposal for the Iowa city council to look for a market outside the city that shall serve as a point to sell the meat since Iowa has a significant amount of beef production potential. The market can be abroad especially in countries that have low meat production. The city council can also engage with discipline forces in the US to be supplying meat for the institutions and other organizations.
Solving the problem of the unemployment rate that is existing in the city, this group proposes that the city council of Iowa ensure the skillful youth who reside in town will be employed. They can serve as slaughtermen, cleaners, guards, inspectors of meat, and other roles. The combination of the above efforts will ensure the growing population in Iowa town will have somewhere to work, the city will benefit from the revenues raised from exporting the meat and also from the domestic supply.
The Cost for the Abattoir Complex in Iowa City
The total budget that the group proposes for the commencement and completion of this project is approximately $23.82 million. The project should complete within one year and three months and the group propose to the city council that the start of construction should start one month after assembling required resources. The source of money for facilitating the project shall be from the income tax for Iowa city individuals, grants from the US federal government, loans from the international monetary funds among other sources. The federal government can give a grant of around seven million, while income tax for residentials can go up to ten million. The city council can borrow the remaining amount after assembling the other funds. The following is a breakdown of the projected cost and period for the program as per the proposal given by this group.
Table 1. Proposed cost and time for the program.
Conclusion
Iowa city is facing issues to do with farmer’s difficulty in getting their animals to the slaughtering areas. Secondly, it has been observed that the revenue for the local government needs to be raised from the current figure to meet the expected level. The development of a comprehensive slaughterhouse that is modern will enable the population in the urban center to have jobs alongside benefiting farmers with stable income from their livestock.
The abattoir is expected international trade in terms of exporting meat shall boost the revenue for the town and raise the living standards for the majority. This group proposes to the city council to follow the project guidelines in terms of courses of action, cos for starting and financing, and also a source of funds to finance the program. With the efforts from all the key players, it is expected for the program to cost $23.83 million with one year and three months.
References
Corckery, M., & Yaffe-Bellany, D. (2020). The food chain’s weakest link: Slaughterhouses. NYtimes. Web.
Doran, B. (2019). Feedlot forum 2020 explores cattle marketing challenges and expectations. News. Web.