Critical to our goal of producing food for people rather than commodities for industry is the presence of a healthy small meat processing sector. This has been allowed to decay, from the buildings in use that are somewhat obsolete to the all important people factor. The work is physically demanding and the returns are small enough not to entice new generations in. The flood of available hogs that swamped small meat processing, this due to major industry coronavirus shutdowns showed the weakness in the system.
We at Pastures A Plenty work on our own processing agreements as well as joining with others to push the state into providing some help to get the sector back on its feet. This may well require the same level of interest and investment as the string of stadiums built and the massive help extended to the airlines. It is every bit as important.
Additionally, major meat industry must be held by the federal government to decent behavior, as regards their underpaid and terrorized mostly immigrant work force and their poor treatment of both the animals they slaughter and the farmer-producers of those animals.
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