Meat and poultry processors seeking lessons in diversification need look no further than the U.S. bison business.

Twenty-five years ago, the bison business looked like a giant pyramid scheme. Prices for live animals escalated dramatically in the 1990’s as ranchers competed to build their herds with the limited number of animals available. By 1999, prices for breeding stock had reached unsustainable heights, with the grand champion breeding bull selling for $101,000 at the National Bison Association’s annual Gold Trophy sale.

When the USDA established the Meat and Poultry Processing Technical Assistance network in 2022, beef ranchers and other livestock producers were facing delays of more than a year in scheduling their animals for processing.

With apologies to Bob Dylan, the times, they have changed. Driven by drought, trade restrictions, and other factors, the U.S. cattle inventory has dropped to a 70-year low, with only marginal signs indicating any rebuilding is underway.

Silos are valuable on farms and ranches but not in federal agencies. Within USDA and other federal agencies, various departments too often operate in isolation, creating confusion and challenges for constituencies wanting to utilize their resources.

Leaders at USDA AMS understood that when they enlisted Flower Hill Institute and five other organizations to create the Meat and Poultry Processing Technical Assistance (MPPTA) Program in 2022.

When Santa goes looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer or a charcuterie platter for the elves’ holiday party, you may find him perusing the selection at Southpaw Meat Market in Windham, Maine.

The market, tucked in a strip mall 12 miles northwest of Portland, is a warm, welcoming space that exemplifies the opportunities for smaller processors to diversify and move beyond simply harvesting animals and packaging meat.

Beef tallow is only the latest stop on the trail that Stagecoach Meats in Wiggins, CO, has traveled over the past half-decade.

The journey began in 2020, when Kris and Jessica Musgrave and their friends Stacy and Travis Cowan purchased a custom exempt plant in the small northeastern Colorado town to process cattle that the Musgraves raised on their nearby ranch. As the Covid-19 pandemic-related disruption swept through the beef industry, the four soon recognized the need for a USDA-inspected facility in their area.

Shortages of trained workers continue to be one of the significant challenges facing smaller processors operating in relatively remote areas.

Fortunately, many higher education institutions of all sizes are working to address those needs, in part with resources that were made available through USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

Eric Gutknecht grew up elbows deep in sausage making. His parents immigrated to Colorado from Switzerland in the 1970s, bringing with them two generations of sausage-making experience.

Eric was three years old when his parents joined a Denver sausage business founded by another Swiss immigrant and purchased the company in the 1980s. Eric notes, “Packing sausage was cheaper than daycare,” so he spent his days learning the trade at his parents’ elbows.

With a bit of extra time on my hands last week, I popped by an H-Mart store in my Denver-area suburb to take a look around.

For those unfamiliar, H-Mart is a Korean-based grocery chain that operates large-footprint stores across the United States. They focus on ethnic diets, with perishable sections and grocery aisles stocked with items you won’t find at Kroger or Walmart. Taro root and rambutan (whatever that is) are interspersed with lettuce and cucumbers in the produce section. The seafood section includes a live lobster tank and a counter where customers can scoop fresh squid and octopus.