Community members toured the new 270,000-square-foot beef processing plant at True West Beef near Jerome, Idaho, on Feb. 25.

JEROME, Idaho — The new True West beef processing plant, a venture of Boise-based Agri Beef Co., got a warm community welcome Feb. 25, with more than 3,000 people attending its open house.

“We’re glad that people were interested. … We got some pretty good feedback,” said Jay Theiler, Agri Beef executive vice president of corporate affairs.

The 270,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, focused on processing high-quality Northwest beef, will eventually employ 300 to 400 workers.

It is slated to begin operation in April.

True West is a new business model with more than 40 families as invested partners in the processing plant and supplying cattle. A lot of them are local, and others are regional with the ability to deliver cattle to the plant.“That’s what is kind of different about this model,” he said.

It’s a collaboration between Agri Beef and livestock producers as partners, he said. The partners are paid for their cattle and participate in the profit from the plant.

Agri Beef is the managing partner. It already has experience operating the Washington Beef processing plant in Toppenish, Wash.

Products will initially be produced under Agri Beef’s existing Double R Ranch brand as well as the True West brand. Eventually, the plant will also produce beef under Agri Beef’s Snake River Farms brand.

The facility will process grass-fed and grain-finished fed cattle with 90% of the beef grading choice or higher. To achieve that high quality, a lot of the cattle will be Angus and Hereford breeds.

“It’s really focused on quality,” he said.

Agri Beef wanted to create an identity for Northwest beef and has been building its Double R Ranch brand for about 20 years, working with cattle producers to differentiate its high-quality products, he said.

Double R Ranch has the reputation of a high-quality brand, and Snake River Farms — with its American Wagyu beef and American Kurobuta pork — adds to that reputation.

Agri Beef’s products are available at retail and fine-dining restaurants coast-to-coast and internationally.

“The quality speaks for itself,” he said.

Agri Beef’s existing customers and distributors will have the opportunity to obtain True West products as well, he said.

Target production is 500 head a day, and True West hopes to get there within six months. The plant will operate five days a week with one production shift per day and a sanitation shift at night.

With a focus on sustainability, 95% of the plant’s wastewater will be treated and used for irrigation.

Agri Beef announced the True West project in July 2020 and broke ground four months later.

In addition to its Double R Ranch, Snake River Farms and True West brands, Agri Beef produces beef under its St. Helen’s Beef and Rancho El Oro brands.

Agri Beef was founded by Robert Rebholtz Sr. In 1968, when he purchased Snake River Cattle Feeders. Today, the company is led by Robert Rebholtz Jr.