Assuring Meat Processing Availability for Sustainable Livestock Farmers

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares involve a fixed up front investment in the farm operation, in return for a specific number of deliveries/pick-ups of shares of the farm products over time.

Advantages identified include:

• Funds provided to the farmer up front;
• Weather and production risks shared with farmer and consumer;
• Farmers control prices – within limits of “what the market will bear;”
• Opportunity for on-going engagement with customers

Disadvantages discussed include:

• Time intensive preparing shares/delivering, communicating with customers;
• Meat shares require strict temperature control and delivery timing;
• Dividing products evenly among shares is difficult;
• Lots of time on spreadsheets

Farmers Markets – discussion included farmers with experience in smaller, local farmers markets, and bigger markets further away in big cities.

Advantages discussed include:

• Direct contact with customers – ability to sell what’s available;
• Customers care about story of the farm more than price;
• Big City markets offer premium pricing;
• Visibility complements other forms of marketing;
• Good way to get volume accounts;
• Farmers control the pricing;
• Good place to sell hamburger!

Disadvantages discussed include:

• Fees and licensing costs;
• Travel time and expense;
• Giving up every Saturday (or other day) away from family and farm;
• Need to educate consumers with recipes for unusual meat cuts;
• Small town markets are more price sensitive;
• Lots of work prepping, hauling products to and from the market.

Online marketing – is often used in conjunction with another marketing method, to raise profile, tell stories and take orders, which may be picked up (e.g. at a farmers market) or delivered (e.g. at a CSA distribution site.) Participants in the focus group used online marketing in these manners.  Some operations are 100% virtual, with direct shipping to a customer’s address. 

Advantages of online marketing include:

• Efficient way to seek and engage especially younger customers;
• Facebook Marketplace is a good way to attract Latino customers;
• Low cost marketing;
• “The store is always open”;
• Expands marketing to wider audiences beyond local contacts;
• Flat rate pricing vs. per pound – easier to sell products available;
• Online customers seem less price sensitive than in-person;
• Can aggregate products from multiple farms to provide “one stop shopping.”

Disadvantages of online marketing include:

• Specialized knowledge/expense to create and maintain web presence;
• Constant need to create and update information, respond to customers;
• 24/7/365 nature has customers expecting immediate responses;
• Shipping of product is expensive and time consuming;
• Hard to maintain consistency of products through seasons, across multiple farms;
• Lack of engagement at an in-person level – field days for customers a solution.

Market Connectors/Aggregators and Food Hubs – these are used by and/or were several of the participants in the focus group.  Businesses which run the online marketing and delivery, such as Market Wagon in Minneapolis, mark up the represented products 25%, while the non-profit Iowa Food Hub doing similar work is supported by grants, as well as a more modest 10% mark up on the products.

 Advantages of using Market Connectors and Food Hubs include:

• Allows the farmer to focus their time on crop and livestock production;
• Farmers set their own prices;
• No specialized marketing expertise by the farmer required;
• Exposes the farm products to a large customer base;
• Complimentary to other marketing methods.

Disadvantages of using Market Connectors and Food Hubs include:

• No direct contact with customers, unable to develop a relationship;
• Need for a consistent product – to match the marketing;
• Sales may not match production in type or volume.

The unmet demand for fresh halal meats was discussed. Halal products serve a specialized market serving devout Muslims looking for fresh meat products raised and slaughtered in conformance with specific Muslim standards.  There are third party halal certifications akin to organic certification to reassure customers that standards are met.

Minnesota has a large and growing Muslim population that seeks halal meat, preferably fresh. Less than 10% of the demand for lamb and goat is supplied from within Minnesota.  At this writing, no slaughter facilities are dedicated halal plants.  (Two small processors are actively working to become dedicated halal goat and sheep processors.) Demand and prices for goats and sheep are strong, particularly around the Muslim holidays of Ramadan and Eid.

Findings: There is a role for each of the marketing methods discussed in supporting and expanding the growing local foods market.  The best method of marketing for an individual farm operation depends upon many factors, including:

• Time available for direct marketing vs. production.
• Location of farm – near or far from large, profitable markets
• Expertise available among the farm family/workers; websites take attention!
• Availability of Food Hubs or Connectors, or local farmers markets.
• Personal preference – some like customer interactions, some do not.

While the approach used to direct market to retail and business consumers varies based on specific factors unique to each farm operation, all participants were supporters of direct marketing, primarily because the farmer gets to set their own prices. While the general market must be considered, it does not dictate final compensation.

Direct marketing puts the farmer back in charge of their own economic future.  An additional benefit of direct marketing is the ability with most approaches to develop a deep and ongoing relationship with customers. Such a relationship allows communication of the values embedded in the product (GMO, hormone, and antibiotic free; organic; free-range, etc.) as well as telling the compelling story of the farm and farm family involved.  The story and values in turn, justify “a living wage” for the product, a rarity for farmers dependent upon commercial commodity markets. 

Direct relationships allow the farmer to shape their marketing to available or surplus products: “These certified organic onions were too small for my contract with a wholesaler, you can have them for a good price.” Or, “This pig weighs 320 pounds, I’d receive half price at the auction because the pork chops are too big. Thank you for buying it for a fair price.” Direct marketing to consumers who learn about the challenges of commercial marketing turns unsaleable surplus or out of spec products into cash.

Finally, production of livestock produced and slaughtered for fresh meat in conformance with halal standards represents a huge opportunity for farmers in Minnesota and the surrounding area.  Livestock in demand by area Muslim communities include goats, sheep, cattle and chickens. Goats are in particularly short local supply, with hundreds of thousands of animals imported mostly as frozen halal meat from Australia and New Zealand. Fresh meat is preferred over frozen meat by many customers, despite the higher price. The bottleneck in local halal fresh meat production is the present lack of full time, certified halal slaughter facilities.