On June 17th, Flower Hill Institute's Regional Director of Technical Assistance Chris Roper made a site visit to Barnsdall Meat Processing in Barnsdall, Oklahoma which made him stop and reflect on how fortunate we are after seeing the damage left from two deadly tornadoes that hit the small community within a five week period. 

For the past few decades leading up to 2020, the consolidation in the meat and poultry processing industries was touted as creating the most efficient and resilient method to bring protein for farmers and ranchers to consumers.

Then came COVID.

As the pandemic impacts rippled throughout the food system in 2021, the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant (MPIRG) was launched offering smaller processing businesses up to $200,000 to become USDA-inspected to equip them to develop and market products in retail stores and restaurants.

The first round of MPIRG grants awarded in 2021 is scheduled to be wrapped up this September, so my fellow Regional Director, Chris Roper, and I have been stopping by grant recipients during our travels to see if our network can provide technical assistance to help them cross the finish line.

Perhaps Kevin Ouzts should be known as The Meat Doctor.

After all, he can cure nearly any type of meat…into mouth-watering slices of prosciutto, bresaola, salami, and more.

Kevin and his wife Megan own and operate The Spotted Trotter Charcuterie, a Production and Retail facility in Edgewood, GA. Kevin works daily to perfect his craft of transforming pork, beef, chicken, and duck into products steeped in old-world tradition but infused with local ingredients, which helped them to coin and trademark the phrase, New American Charcuterie™.   

One of the newest developments in meat processing is a thousand years old.

Field harvesting is steadily growing in popularity as producers and processors alike recognize this method's advantages in terms of humane animal handling and meat quality. For many ranchers, field harvesting is integral to a “one bad day” approach to animal husbandry… providing the animal with a quality, pasture-raised life, followed by one bad day at harvest time.

Good things in life often require unlimited patience.

Just ask Rosemary Linares and Damian Rivera of Damian’s Craft Meats in Anne Arbor, MI.

A vision that began a decade ago is nearing fruition for Rosemary and Damian.

Damian was born in Mexico and grew up directly connected to the local butcher, or carincero, who provided the meat for his family’s table. He came to the U.S. as an entrepreneur in the meat industry and apprenticed in USDA-inspected and custom-exempt slaughterhouses. Along the way, he met Rosemary, whose great-grandfather had started a USDA slaughterhouse in his backyard in Michigan.

If you can’t eat it, wear it.

Or, put it on your skin.

Or, feed it to your companion animals.

That was the message from the most recent Offal Party, hosted by Colorado State University’s Agriculture Innovation Center on January 25th during the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

The evolving humanization of pets creates significant opportunities for smaller meat and poultry processors…if we can create a new supply chain model to connect those processors with pet product brands catering to the demand of today’s “pet parents.”

Meet independent producers and processors from across the country at the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association’s 16th Annual Meeting this December 1-2 at the Embassy Suites in Fort Worth! You won’t want to miss keynote addresses from USDA Undersecretary for Marketing & Regulatory Programs Jenny Moffit, USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux, and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

Smaller meat processing plants across the country are surviving and profiting by producing, and marketing products differentiated from the standard items carried in the typical retail meat case. Grassfed, regenerative, organic, humanely raised, and other claims-verified products are helping these processors stand apart.

Differentiation is key to the success of smaller meat and poultry processors. After all, the big chains can produce generic bricks of ground beef and steaks cheaper than any mom-and-pop processor in the country.

However, a growing segment of consumers want something better than a generic cut of meat. A slew of ongoing consumer studies shows that shoppers increasingly value meat and poultry sourced locally from producers dedicated to environmental stewardship and humane animal husbandry.

The holiday season is touted as a time of joy, with families gathering to exchange gifts and share fellowship. However, for many people, this is the season of depression and loneliness, even when surrounded by friends and family.

A survey by the American Psychological Association last year found that 89% of American adults feel stressed during the holiday season, with 41% saying stress is higher during the holidays than at other times of the year.