Researchers from the University of Idaho presented their findings on how to increase sustainability and profit of the local livestock industry by localizing processing at a forum Monday.
Ricky Scuderi | Argonaut
Ron Richard Vandal Brand Meats manager, left, and Jason Parsley from Omache Farm discuss some of the topics from the Livestock Forum at the 1912 Center Monday. The forum brought people together from mutiple aspects of the agriculture industry to discuss local issues.
“The research team will not be the ones who can build a livestock processing facility,” said Jennifer Boie, research assistant with the UI Sustainability Center. “So it’s a call to action to the local livestock producers, processors and interested people. Okay, here’s the feasibility research so far. If you want to see something happen, people in the community need to step up and make it happen.”
Since spring 2011 the research team has conducted interviews with local producers and processors, as well as conducting seven forums throughout the study area to get a picture of the supply of livestock.
There are two U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected processors and approximately 70,000 head of cattle in the study area, according to the UI Livestock and Small Farms Project Newsletter. Meat must go through these two plants in order to be sold through commercial outlets like restaurants or grocery stores.
The team also conducted a consumer preference survey to get a picture of demand within the study area. The survey found that whether or not something was locally-grown made up almost 60 percent of the consumer’s decision when buying food.
It also found that respondents consider local to mean within 85 miles, which is far below the federal definition of locally grown — less than 400 miles or within the state the product was produced.
The study also found that price caused high variation in demand of conventionally produced beef — as price goes up, demand goes down. The relationship between price and demand is far less dynamic when it comes to all-natural or certified organic beef — the newsletter said this is because the consumer expects higher quality for products produced using these methods.
The team presented their findings on supply and demand, as well as feasibility studies for options the local community could pursue, in the forum.
Darin Saul, associate director of the Office of Community Partnerships, said that the community has numerous options: production co-ops, adding more USDA-inspected facilities, value-added processing and distribution co-ops.
Boie said that after presenting the research findings and feasibility studies for the different options, the research team handed it over to the community to lead the discussion.
The first speaker, Boise Manager for Idaho’s Bounty, Arlie Sommer, spoke about his experience managing a co-op. Boie said that his speech essentially provided a successful model for those within the study area interested in setting up a distribution co-op. The second speaker, Brett Donnelly from USDA Rural Development, talked about what kind of grant opportunities there are for sustainable development.
Boie said that anyone interested in getting involved, but who could not attend the forum, should send an email to [email protected].
Andrew Deskins can be reached at [email protected]