Meat and Poultry Processing Montana

View the project report

Commodities

• Animal Products: meat

Practices

• Animal Production: meat processing, meat processing facilities
• Education and Training: technical assistance, workshop
• Farm Business Management: labor/employment

Montana State University (MSU) and collaborators are developing a multi-faceted training and networking project, taking a whole supply chain approach for people and businesses in local/regional meat systems. Enterprises will mostly be small- and mid-scale; efforts to reach and include underserved and indigenous enterprises and communities will be made. Deliverables include trainings, intern/apprentice placements, networking and educational conferences, and multi-media educational products. We recognize, “Niche and value-added animal production farms, facilities and local markets give farmers and ranchers more opportunities to raise animals and focus on small flocks and herds in a manner that enhances soil health, conserves water and energy, reduces pollution and promotes climate-smart farming.”  Additionally, functioning local/regional meat supply chains can offer business opportunities for producers of all scales, particularly with internal diversification of marketing and inter-generational diversification.  We believe our outreach and training efforts can support a broad set of agri-food business owners, managers, and skilled laborers across local/regional meat supply chains. 

MSU will honor and pursue the following goals as provided by SARE. Our Scope of work…
1. Supports the development of training opportunities and educational materials about meat and poultry processing for place-based needs (across the West), including relationships between farmers and processors. Information will be relevant to the needs of small- or medium-scale farmers and ranchers, processors, and allied support businesses/services, historically underserved individuals and communities, and production systems that other animal operations that are important to diverse cultures.
2. Address demand from niche markets like small flocks/herds, mobile processing units, on-site processing, farm-to-fork eateries/caterers and small/alternative grocers including those that are maintained by historically underserved producers and communities.
Using local and meat supply chain-driven advisors and experts, this project aims to increase the capacity of existing topic experts and practitioners by building a regional outreach network (but available nationally) that improves our ability to 1) act as information hubs, 2) address emerging challenges, 3) catalyze cooperation, and 4) leverage resources.

Using local and meat supply chain-driven advisors and experts, this project aims to increase the capacity of existing topic experts and practitioners by building a regional outreach network (but available nationally) that improves our ability to 1) act as information hubs, 2) address emerging challenges, 3) catalyze cooperation, and 4) leverage resources.