Progress report for MPP23-003
Project Information
We aim to develop skills and grow markets for independent local farmers, processors, entrepreneurs and allied businesses across the south via (1) Developing new and expanding upon existing tools and resources to help accelerate peer-to-peer business collaboration, set meat prices for profitability, expand market channels to reach consumers, and locate timely processing services. (2) Technical assistance and processor-specific trainings advancing workforce technical skills (including hands-on training) and entrepreneur decision-making (3) Price-to-market trainings and technical assistance to help farmers as well as Extension and farmer trainers manage risks, utilize tools, and access DTC customers; (4) The Carolina Meat Conference (CMC), a multi-day southern summit for local farmer to processor training to advance industry coordination for state and national impact. Content for this training will be informed by farmers and advisors actively partnering with 1890s land grant institutions and targeting underserved communities.
We will develop and deliver:
(1) New and expand upon existing tools and resources to help accelerate peer-to-peer business collaboration, set meat prices for profitability, expand market channels to reach consumers, and locate timely processing services.
(2) Technical assistance and processor-specific trainings advancing workforce technical skills (including hands-on training) and entrepreneur decision-making
(3) Price-to-market trainings and technical assistance to help farmers as well as Extension and farmer trainers manage risks, utilize tools, and access DTC customers;
(4) The Carolina Meat Conference (CMC), a multi-day southern summit for local farmer to processor training to advance industry coordination for state and national impact. Content for this training will be informed by farmers and advisors actively partnering with 1890s land grant institutions and targeting underserved communities.
Cooperators
Education
Our team conducts both direct (in-person) and remote trainings throughout the course of a year for maximum reach. We will conduct a series of direct in-person trainings including small regional meeting presentations for beginning meat producers and more advanced statewide trainings for advanced producers. In addition to the in-person trainings, we offer a series of remote presentations where we provide training on new pricing and marketing tools to support niche meat producers and/or producer trainers (i.e. Extension, etc).
This past fall, we collaborated with faculty on an in-person and remote graduate level course for Extension agents on niche meats. The course, ANS 641, Practicum in Animal Science, provided 3 credit hours necessary for career advancement and was be Pass/Fail grading. Extension agent, Sara Drake, NC Choices' Lee Menius, NC Choices' Sarah Blacklin and professor, Dr. Matt Poore, of Animal Science organized the class. Activities including zoom trainings plus all day “labs” or field day trainings visiting processing facilities and niche meat businesses, local pasture-based livestock farmsfarm/processor tours throughout the state as well as an end of semester paper. The classes included guest instructors. Recordings of each session were available with corresponding quizzes to accommodate those who could not attend at the designated time.
Twice a year, our team will dedicate a week to delivering 'road tour' trainings through regionally specific areas throughout the state. These trainings are held in conjunction and partnership with the area livestock agent agent and/or as well as an existing county cattlemens meeting to target our audience interested in diversifying and to come to their area. We develop new tools, price and marketing spreadsheets, and practical supply chain information aimed at new farmers entering into niche meat production. Our goal is to hit 4-5 county locations (aiming at ~100+ participants total) delivering the new content in a region of the state. We then cover the other half of the state and do the same to provide direct in-person trainings to rural community members. For our more seasoned and established meat producers, our program holds larger statewide gatherings where we provide advanced training on a series of topics informed by feedback from our constituents'. This direct training includes events such as the 2023 Niche Meat Marketing Seminar (attendance = 150 for one day training) and the Carolina Meat Conference (attendance estimated at 500 for 3 days).
We will provide all of technical assistance, training, and resources to stakeholders across the supply chain including processors, farmers, and also trainers to prepare them to support farmers as they engage with online marketing of meat. NC Extension agents are often the first point of contact for beginning farmers, making targeted extension agent training through a series of statewide and regional trainings key to adoption and long‐term sustainability
The majority of our tools developed will be incorporated into our MeatSuite.com platform. MeatSuite is a tool that helps direct livestock farmers selling meat in bulk to consumers nearby in their area. The main site is the marketing platform where shoppers can search. However, we also provide a 'farmer log in' where farmers can see marketing, pricing, and processing tools to help them achieve profitability and reach their customer base. NC Choices/NCSU and Cornell partner on this tool and continue to populate resources for farmers and features to make it more user friendly for customers. In addition, we share our educational tools through our Extension and partner networks as well as house them on our main website as well (https://cefs.ncsu.edu/food-system-initiatives/nc-choices/). Our approach to developing our tools is iterative and based on lessons learned. The original MeatSuite platform was developed by Matt LeRoux (Cornell University) in 2012 and implemented in New York. In 2020, NC Choices partnered to expand the site, make improvements and grow the resources together across two regions. Both NC Choices/NCSU and Cornell pilot our tools locally within our states and then compare across states to learn from and improve upon the tools we develop.