“You have to meet people where they're at.”

That's common advice given to professionals wanting to develop strong relationships with clients. It generally refers to the importance of respecting the values, economic situation and beliefs of people you assist.

On October 15th Flower Hill Institute was proud to be a part of the grand opening celebration for Integrity Prime Meats near Buffalo, MO.  Flower Hill Institute has been honored to work with Integrity Prime Meats for over a year during the purchase and upgrades of this existing meat processing facility. 

Mainland U.S. tourists generally view the U.S. Virgin Islands as tropical getaways featuring emerald blue bays rimmed with soft, sandy beaches perfect for soaking in the sun while enjoying a fruity umbrella drink.  Port towns where cruise ships dock ebb and flow with tourists looking for local cuisine, jewelry, and souvenirs.

Beyond the tourist enclaves, though, are farms and villages populated by friendly farmers with gritty determination working to ease the islands' severe dependence on imported food to feed their families and their local communities.

Q. What do Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, and Flower Hill Institute have in common?

A. They will all be participating in the 41st annual Farm Aid Festival in Virginia Beach, VA, this Saturday, September 26.

Willie, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young launched Farm Aid in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise funds to support family farms going bankrupt in droves at the height of what is still known as the “Farm Crisis”. They hoped it would be a one-time event. The need in Rural America persisted, so Farm Aid persevered.

Large packing plants seem to be falling like dominoes across rural America. 

In recent months, Tyson Foods has closed a plant in Nebraska, reduced a Texas facility to one shift, announced the closure of another plant in Illinois and the elimination of case-ready operations in Utah, and put a Washington state plant up for sale. Meanwhile, JBS is eliminating slaughter operations at a facility it owns in Pennsylvania.

Cattle ranchers and feeders supplying those plants now must figure out where they can feasibly ship their animals for harvest.

Johnston’s Meat Market is more than just a butcher shop and retail store in Monticello, Florida: It is a proud local institution with a century-long legacy. 

One hundred years ago, Felix and Alice Johnston founded the market when most families lacked refrigeration. Johnston’s offered meat locker rentals to local residents and quickly became a trusted source for locally produced meat. For more than 98 years, three generations of the Johnston family carefully managed and grew the business, serving beef, lamb, and goat producers throughout a three-state region with USDA-inspected processing.

The mood was festive on August 5th as local dignitaries, cooperative development leaders, USDA’s State Rural Development Director, and Flower Hill Institute's Regional Directors joined Puerto Rican farmers beneath two tents offering shade from the searing sun on a hilltop in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

The occasion: the grand reopening of the Puerto Rico Meat Processing Center, acquired earlier this year by Cooperativa de Porcicultores de Puerto Rico, a cooperative owned by more than 70 hog producers in the region.

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.

The aging of America's agricultural population has been a growing concern for decades. The average farmer is now over 58 years old. Rural businesses, likewise, are suffering as one generation retires with no one following behind.

Anyone ready to throw in the towel on the future of young people in rural communities should attend an American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) convention for a jolt of optimism.  

AAMP bills its annual gathering as a family affair. That’s no overstatement.

Developing a small meat processing facility probably isn’t what the average person would envision for post-retirement. Dave Endicott didn’t envision it either.

Yet, five years after stepping down from a career in higher education, he is overseeing the grand opening of a new processing facility established by Minnesota Farmers Union Foundation in Staples, MN.

Dave spent 30 years in K-12 and higher education, culminating as the Dean at Central Lakes College in Staples, MN. There, he developed a Meat Cutting and Butchery Program to address the need for skilled professionals to replace the aging butcher workforce in the upper Midwest.

Sometimes, it takes a village to expand a meat processing enterprise.

That was evident recently in the northwestern Colorado town of Craig as Deborah Fitch of Fitch Ranch Artisan Meats guided the mayor, city council members, economic development officials, lenders, and builders through the processing plant she and her husband, Cam, have steadily grown since purchasing it in 2022.

How do lawn mower repair, meat processing and pet product manufacturing all fit together?

Just ask Vernon Beechy of Beechy’s Custom Meats in Shipshewana, Indiana.

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. 

On October 15th Flower Hill Institute was proud to be a part of the grand opening celebration for Integrity Prime Meats near Buffalo, MO.  Flower Hill Institute has been honored to work with Integrity Prime Meats for over a year during the purchase and upgrades of this existing meat processing facility. 

Mainland U.S. tourists generally view the U.S. Virgin Islands as tropical getaways featuring emerald blue bays rimmed with soft, sandy beaches perfect for soaking in the sun while enjoying a fruity umbrella drink.  Port towns where cruise ships dock ebb and flow with tourists looking for local cuisine, jewelry, and souvenirs.

Beyond the tourist enclaves, though, are farms and villages populated by friendly farmers with gritty determination working to ease the islands' severe dependence on imported food to feed their families and their local communities.

Johnston’s Meat Market is more than just a butcher shop and retail store in Monticello, Florida: It is a proud local institution with a century-long legacy. 

One hundred years ago, Felix and Alice Johnston founded the market when most families lacked refrigeration. Johnston’s offered meat locker rentals to local residents and quickly became a trusted source for locally produced meat. For more than 98 years, three generations of the Johnston family carefully managed and grew the business, serving beef, lamb, and goat producers throughout a three-state region with USDA-inspected processing.

The aging of America's agricultural population has been a growing concern for decades. The average farmer is now over 58 years old. Rural businesses, likewise, are suffering as one generation retires with no one following behind.

Anyone ready to throw in the towel on the future of young people in rural communities should attend an American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) convention for a jolt of optimism.  

AAMP bills its annual gathering as a family affair. That’s no overstatement.

Professional trainers at the Savory Institute, Holistic Management International, and other regenerative agriculture organizations often stress, “You can’t monitor what you don’t measure.” 

When talking with ranchers seeking to improve management of their land and herds, the trainers say that the same adage is even more critical for meat and poultry processors.

The unique characteristics of meat and poultry processing make it difficult—and sometimes impossible—to use standard manufacturing monitoring tools to measure performance. Most commercial manufacturing enterprises transform components into finished products. Processors start with live animals and then break down the carcass into potentially hundreds of products.

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.

“You have to meet people where they're at.”

That's common advice given to professionals wanting to develop strong relationships with clients. It generally refers to the importance of respecting the values, economic situation and beliefs of people you assist.

Q. What do Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, and Flower Hill Institute have in common?

A. They will all be participating in the 41st annual Farm Aid Festival in Virginia Beach, VA, this Saturday, September 26.

Willie, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young launched Farm Aid in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise funds to support family farms going bankrupt in droves at the height of what is still known as the “Farm Crisis”. They hoped it would be a one-time event. The need in Rural America persisted, so Farm Aid persevered.

Large packing plants seem to be falling like dominoes across rural America. 

In recent months, Tyson Foods has closed a plant in Nebraska, reduced a Texas facility to one shift, announced the closure of another plant in Illinois and the elimination of case-ready operations in Utah, and put a Washington state plant up for sale. Meanwhile, JBS is eliminating slaughter operations at a facility it owns in Pennsylvania.

Cattle ranchers and feeders supplying those plants now must figure out where they can feasibly ship their animals for harvest.