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27 farm406 Two New Meat Processing Cooperatives BY SUZANNE WARING | PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED know marketing and presentation. As a result, the cooperative is a multi-stakeholder concept, made up of both ranch members and worker members. Presently the co-op has opened the Old Salt Outpost at the Gold Bar tavern in downtown Helena, where the menu features grass-fed beef burgers, chili, and potatoes fried in beef tallow (fat). Led by Montana native Andrew Mace, a chef and butcher from the Laurel area, co-op members are planning a festival in 2023 that would prominently feature charcoal cooking of Montana meats, live music, and other events on a member ranch. ey are also working to establish livestock processing capacity to be operational in late 2022. en in 2023, a flagship butcher shop and restaurant, Old Salt Public House, will open in Helena. Using the expertise of the Montana Cooperative Development Center, the members of Old Salt Co-op have found that it hasn't been easy to put together a cooperative association with an unusual combination of both producers and workers. It has taken some time to figure out how the cooperative should do its accounting and how it will be taxed. "Our goal is to keep the business in the hands of those who are participating in it," said Mannix. "Ranchers, like us, need to find new ways to sell their products in addition to the traditional methods. at is why we brought workers into the Co-op membership structure along with the ranchers, making us stronger than if we tried a new venture alone." Montana Premium Processing Cooperative In the 1970s, a group of ranchers aempted, but without success, to put together a local meat processing plant. Today four of the directors of the new Montana Premium Processing Cooperative (MPPC) are the offspring of those ranchers. Since the beginning of the pandemic, these Montana ranchers have intermiently been unable to sell their cale and sheep on the traditional market because big processing plants have been unable to function at full capacity. is revenue-draining situation created a new urgency for a local meat processing plant owned by producers. Montana cattle out on the winter range. Photo Courtesy of Montana Farmers Union