Abstract
Increased demand for local food has led to calls for additional supply-chain infrastructure to move products from farm to market. Meat and poultry are highly perishable, rigorously regulated products that require a complex chain, and processing is often said to be the weak link for local meats. Commitment from producers and meat buyers is essential to the persistence and expansion of processing capacity, but nonmarket actors can provide critical technical support and facilitate innovation that strengthens this sector. We present four collaborative efforts, three regional and one national, that focus on processing with the goal of expanding the local meat sector. These efforts harness the experience and expertise of a variety of partners, both public-sector and private, and provide information, guidance, and direct technical assistance. They also collaborate and cooperate with each other in a national peer-learning community, sharing and generating innovative knowledge, tools, and strategies. Tentative evidence of increased processing capacity, producer access to processing, and local meats marketing, while certainly not solely attributable to these efforts, suggests their value.
Highlights
As demand for local food grows (Low & Vogel, 2011; Martinez et al, 2010), those involved with bringing it to market point to a need for additional post-farmgate infrastructure (Bloom & Hinrichs, 2010; Buck, 2011; Cantrell & Lewis, 2010; Morley, Morgan, & Morgan, 2008; Western SARE, 2013)
This paper examines the role of such nonmarket actors in creating and strengthening communication, collaboration, and coordination related to processing as a link in local meat and poultry supply chains
We recognize that the three regional efforts we describe are located in the eastern U.S Related work in the West is ongoing (e.g., University of California Cooperative Extension, 2013), but there are additional challenges for both local meats and supportive nonmarket actors where travel distances are greater and urban markets more dispersed, though the need for supply chain commitments remains the same
Summary
As demand for local food grows (Low & Vogel, 2011; Martinez et al, 2010), those involved with bringing it to market point to a need for additional post-farmgate infrastructure (Bloom & Hinrichs, 2010; Buck, 2011; Cantrell & Lewis, 2010; Morley, Morgan, & Morgan, 2008; Western SARE, 2013). We present data from case studies of four collaborations, three regional and one national, involving public- and private-sector partners, that provide information, guidance, and technical assistance related to local meats processing Their focus on processing occurs within a farm-to-plate context: efforts to shore up and expand processing capacity are motivated explicitly by the goal of allowing more livestock producers to bring more local meat and poultry to more consumers. Tentative evidence of increased processing capacity and producer access to processing, while not attributable to these initiatives only, suggests their value They provide valuable support and technical assistance and appear to be transforming how local producers and their processors work together and, further, how agencies and organizations do the work of building and strengthening local meat and poultry supply chains. We revisit our framework and conclude with recommendations for practitioners and suggestions for future applied research
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