Dave Carter, regional TA provider director for Flower Hill Institute's USDA Meat & Poultry Processing Technical Assistance program, discusses current efforts to support small processors at the American Association of Meat Processors annual meeting in Milwaukee, WI.
New Grant Helps Beef Processors Expand and Diversify
Someone once said, “Meat processing isn’t rocket science; it’s more difficult.”
Smaller meat processors have certainly been navigating challenges in recent years that would vex the brightest aerospace engineers. Coming out of the pandemic, a severe slaughter capacity shortage threatened the viability of many ranchers. Then, just as more slaughter capacity began to emerge, Mother Nature brought on a drought that—along with screwworm and other factors—has reduced the nation’s cattle herd to the lowest level in more than a decade. And byproduct disposal is a persistent problem that keeps smaller processors at a competitive disadvantage.
