Farm406

farm406 38 Annika Charter, one of the founders of the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub and a cale producer with her family ranch near Shepard, told me the sales from the Food Hub, which is a coop of local farmers and ranchers, have increased by 10 times what they were pre-COVID. e Mannix Brothers Ranch near Helmville, Montana has operated a grass-fed, direct-to-consumer beef program for the last five years. In early July, I hopped in the delivery truck with Logan Mannix, who manages this part of the business, as he went on his delivery route from the ranch in Helmville to drop off locations in Lolo, Missoula, Polson, Big Fork, and Seeley Lake. On alternating weeks, the route takes him to Helena, Bozeman, and Bue. "We can't keep up with demand. We are basically sold out of everything we have. If we could get more cows into the butcher, we could probably sell as much as they could process," Logan told me. Everyone is talking about butchering capacity these days. I decided to talk with Brian Engle, owner of Pioneer Meats, one of five USDA-inspected meat processing facilities in the state and ask him about the state of the meat cuing industry in Montana. Brian Engle began cuing meat as a kid with his father on their ranch near Big Timber. He then started butchering deer and elk for a few family friends. He then started his own wild game processing businesses that he ran for five years, before taking some years off to pursue a degree in Animal Science. Eventually, Brian and his wife, Kary, made their way back to Big Timber, bought 20-acres of land, and opened Pioneer Meats, one of the larger meat processing centers in the state. He's seen a definite increase in and interest from consumers in buying local meat and has also seen an increase in the number of ranchers wanting to process their livestock for direct sales to consumers. Since COVID, the plant has gone from processing 25 beef a week to 40. He has hired more people and is currently at full capacity. However, he emphasized, even before COVID, there weren't enough meat processing facilities in the state to adequately meet demand. COVID is just making the problem bigger and more visible. "Even five to six years ago, there were more plants - maybe 10 to 15 more back then. A big reason a lot of those plants were shuing down was because of lack of skilled meat cuers, and of course, you need capital to keep up a facility. But, say, an aging plant owner can't find help or someone to buy the business and prey soon they throw up their hands and close the doors," Engle told me from his office in Big Timber. Engle said the people in the meat processing industry in Montana have known for a long time that one of their bolenecks was qualified labor. e job takes skill, knowledge, and a willingness to work hard. Employee of Pioneer Meats in Big Timber, Montana label hot dogs and make jerky.

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