Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told House lawmakers that his department has received hundreds of comments in response to the USDA’s plans to invest $500 million to expand meat and poultry processing in the U.S. to boost competition in the livestock industry. “We’re now in the process of analyzing those comments in order to establish and structure the program,” Vilsack told members of the House Agriculture Committee. “The expectation is that that structure will take place sometime before the end of the year, and that will begin to make decisions and investments, hopefully in the first quarter of 2022,” he said. The program was launched in the wake of President Joe Biden’s executive order early this year promoting competition, with the aim to build a more resilient supply chain and better food system. “We know that there is a high concentration in this industry,” Vilsack said. “We know that it creates …