Wednesday, September 08, 2010 -- 12:13 PM e.s.t.

Education - Publications - Marketing Projects

Purpose:

1. Study the energy used and saved from pasturing meats and marketing them regionally in the Northease US. This will require recordkeeping on both the farmers part and by CADE staff.
2. Organize a marketing and distribution system for pastured meats. This will include the lease or purchase of a delivery vehicle, and a salesperson or broker.
3. Form a cooperative or association to continue the marketing and organizational efforts.

Kick-off Meeting Minutes

3-27-99                      6pm

 Present:

• Jim McLaughlin
• Marty Broccoli
• Amy Kenyon
• Martha Goodsell, raising venison & poultry
• Wendy Gornick, raising lamb, rabbit, pastured poultry, duck, and veal calves
• Keith Morgan-Davie, pastured poultry, lamb, eggs, veal, and pork
• Catharina Kessler, beef, veal, sheep, poultry, and eggs
• Dick Warner, possibly veal & poultry
• Kyle Smith, veal, poultry, eggs, ducks
• Cathy McKenna, pork & lamb
• Jean Barrows, veal
• Tom Warren, lamb, goats, poultry, pork, and eggs.

The meeting began with introductions, and each farmer describing their products.  A discussion about pasturing pork began, with several people interested in learning more about it.  The group would like to experiment with marketing pork this year and learn about the best ways to raise pigs in a grass-based farm system. 

Handouts included an article about Oregon Country Beef as a cooperative model that required little capital inputs from members, recordkeeping sheets, a working draft towards by-laws that the Meadow Raised Veal steering committee worked on in 1999, and a sample producer commitment letter and protocol guidelines that would need to be signed by each producer.

Amy Kenyon introduced the project and discussed its three-fold purpose.

The group then discussed the recordkeeping that would need to be done.  Amy passed out sample sheets for producers to use to record the labor inputs to care for the animals, energy inputs in the form of food, and other inputs such as fertilizers.  Amy mentioned that she has calculations from NRCS which will allow her to calculate the energy intakes of animals based on their rate of weight gain, and by subtracting the off-farm inputs such as grain, can arrive at the amount of energy consumed from pasture.  This means that farmers must keep track of the average daily gain on their animals.

Tom Warren questioned the practicality of weighing 100 lambs every week, but pointed out that young animals go through rumen changes at 30, 60, and 90 days, and are weighed at that time to come up with their average daily gains for the time period.  The group felt that this would be more feasible and just as accurate for baby animals.  Some producers have recordkeeping sheets that are different from those that Amy passed around.  Amy said that as long as she was provided every month with a) the number of animals being raised b) their weights  c) their average daily gains and d) what the animal ate during that time period, farmers could use their own systems to record the information.  In addition, if animals are receiving nourishment from a brood animal, then all inputs into the brood animal must be tracked as well.

The group then discussed the labor input sheets.  Amy needs to keep track of how much labor is going into the production of each type of animal.  A question came up since many producers have children doing some of the work.  This time needs to be kept track of as well, but in ‘adult’ hours, as some children will take much longer to do a task.

The third spreadsheet raised the most questions.  Amy asked that farmers keep track of all other costs here.  The most important is any soil amendments used, as this will effect the energy intake of the animals grazing.  The amount of electricity used, especially by electric fencers should be tracked as well. 

Questions came up as to whether farms should keep track of depreciable capital costs, or only expenses that come up during the project.  What about property taxes?  Also, how are these costs assigned – on a per animal basis?  The results will vary widely from the farms involved with only a few animals to those with larger herds if, for example, property taxes were given a “per animal” cost.  Perhaps a better way of tracking these costs would be as a percentage of revenue from the animals marketed through the group.  Amy will discuss these questions with NYSERDA and give the group a better understanding of what non-feed, labor, and energy costs need to be recorded for the project.

Amy then discussed what CADE and its partners were agreeing to provide to the farmers during this two year project.  The list included:

·          Organizing the group, and disseminating information to all participating producers.

·          Organizing the data collected

·          Keeping track of all marketing time and money spent so that the group can understand the true costs involved when they take over the direction of a cooperative.

·          Providing tastings and educational events for the public.

·          Sending regular press releases about the project and the producers involved.

·          Providing a salesperson to assist with getting the product sold.

·          Making a truck available for delivery of product committed to the project.

·          Making Jim McLaughlin available for technical on-farm support, and other experts as needed.

·          Overseeing the production, marketing, and distribution for the group for two years.

·          Providing for the technical assistance and funding for legal organization of a formal association or cooperative.

·          $1500 towards the new organization’s insurance.

·          Forage sample testing

·          Nutritional testing on each meat product involved in the project.

·          Helping to subsidize part of the cost of samples and deliveries for the first two years.

Before discussing what producers would need to commit to, the group went over a basic “statement of common purpose” and came up with a document that everyone agreed to.  (attached).  This is a document for the producers, not meant to be used for marketing purposes.

The group then went over the producer commitments to the project (see attached letter).  The question about how much time each producer must commit to the group each month could not be answered until a rough business plan is drafted of how much product we have to sell and how we will market it. 

Producers should commit to sharing the risks and the rewards of this project equally.  CADE is not a broker and will not buy unsold meat.  That is why it is important to gather information about what we will have to market immediately so we can begin working with the group to sell it before it comes to the slaughterhouse.

The group then discussed the protocol for raising animals that each farmer would need to commit to.  The following items were discussed:

Antibiotics and hormones are prohibited.  If an animal needs to be medicated with antibiotics, it must be sold in another way.  Lactating mothers that are treated must not be used for the program during that lactation.  Martha Goodsell pointed out that the group should look into developing a second label for the animals which cannot be marketed as “Meadow Raised”.

The group agreed that coccidiostats and dewormers were not to be used on animals marketed as Meadow Raised in this project.  Homeopathic remedies are acceptable.  Jim is contacting NOFA NY to find out their standards on what is allowed.

Vaccinations are permissible, and TB testing for the venison is also permissible as it is required by law.

All farms must practice intensive grass management through rotational grazing.  Each farm must set up a farm visit from Jim McLaughlin, who will ensure that each producer is following guidelines.  Wendy Gornick asked that each farm be sent a follow up letter after Jim’s visit with his recommendations and comments in writing.

Amy mentioned that there are other cooperatives forming in the Northeast that do not have as specific guidelines about medications and production methods as this group does.  We will be working with these other groups as closely as possible, but feel it is important to be able to differentiate our products.  Producers who have animals they cannot sell through this project for whatever reason may want to get in touch with another group as a possible additional outlet for their meats.  One such group is working to open a slaughterhouse in Connecticut and market meat in NYC – interested producers can contact Shannon Rice at 413-323-4531.  Another group is Vermont Quality Meats, for which I don’t have a number.  The Hudson Valley Livestock task force is looking into opening a processing facility and perhaps forming a cooperative.  Dick Warner also mentioned Penns Corner cooperative in Pennsylvania.  Amy will be in touch with all of these groups to see if there are ways that we can work together.

Items that were not resolved or were not addressed include:

·          Who is responsible for the delivery of an animal to the slaughterhouse?  The producer should be responsible, but Jim can help producers with the use of the RC&D trailer.  However, a protocol needs to be set up to ensure that some producers do not have trucking costs subsidized and others pay the full rate.  Suggestions included both having the producer pay the first $15, then the association pays the rest, or having the association pay the first $10-15, and having the producer pay the rest. 

·          What is the definition of “grass-fed”, or “Meadow Raised”?  The group did go over the practice of rotational grazing, no use of medications or hormones, and the importance of minimizing off-farm inputs, including grain.  However, at this time no limit on the amount of grain fed to each type of animal has been set, with the exception of the Meadow Raised Veal calves, which are to be raised with no more than ½ lb. of grain per day to help meet their energy requirements.

·          What will the required time commitment for each farm be?  This will be determined as we find out the number of animals available for us to market this year.

Amy ended the meeting with asking producers to give her asap the number of animals they would like to sell through the association this year, the breeds, current weights,  and the approximate dates when they will be ready, as well as the prices you need to get for each type of animal. 

The meeting ended at 9:15.  The next meeting date was set for Thursday, May 25^th at Amy Kenyon’s farm in East Meredith.  Directions and a time will follow.  

Common Purpose:

A grass-based approach to farming can result in healthier products and environment.

There is an unfilled consumer demand for fairly priced natural meat products with no antibiotics or hormones, raised and slaughtered and processed with care.

Consumers want to be able to trust their food suppliers. 

Producers can work together to meet this demand and cooperatively increase profit by sharing work and costs of marketing and distribution. 

A cooperative effort can only work if it is farmer-driven, and requires participation from everyone involved to make it succeed. 

Everyone’s farm is a work in progress.  This group has a goal to raise animals on managed pastures, minimizing off-farm inputs, and maximizing our profits and the health of our farm and animals. 

The business of selling meat is service driven… we must be able to provide the highest quality products and meet customer’s needs for consistency of delivery, product, and packaging.  These needs will depend on the customers targeted, and will be filled by the cooperative efforts of committed farms.

For more information about the Pastured Meats Initiative, contact Amy Kenyon