(NAFB.com) – Plans are in development to construct a $1.1 Billion next-generation livestock processing facility in western South Dakota.

The one-million-square-foot facility will process beef and include a specialty bison line. Kingsbury and Associates and Sirius Realty of Rapid City, South Dakota, are currently in the research and development phase of the project. “We aim to restore competition in American meant processing,” says Megan Kingsbury. “I’m a fifth-generation producer and know how difficult it is right now for us to be profitable. We want to fix that.”

Cattle Business Weekly says they want to compete with the Big Four meatpacking giants and be that all-important second bidder in the cash market. The proposed facility will focus on bringing in and developing new technologies in robotics and artificial intelligence to make processing easier, safer, and more efficient. “We will focus on procuring American cattle and feeding American citizens affordable, high-quality protein,” Kingsbury adds.