Last year about this time, we all began learning a lot more about COVID 19.  We also started seeing grocery shelves with less meat on them than we normally expected to see.  Meat processors in the state who were already at least six to eight weeks booked if you tried to schedule animals to be processed started getting a lot more calls as more people were seeking local meat and more farmers saw an opportunity to expand direct meat sales to consumers.

 Many meat processors responded by increasing the amount of cattle and hogs processed on a weekly basis, but this was limited due to facility bottlenecks and labors shortages.  However, by May 2020, processors were completely booked out through all of 2020 and had started booking slaughter dates in 2021. 

KCARD began working with the new Meat Processing Investment Program offered through the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board to help processors figure out how they could use these funds to expand their operations and increase their processing of Kentucky animals.  Many processors had bottlenecks that were not easily fixed with funding, from shortages in skilled labor to less hanging capacity in their coolers.  But in the last year, KCARD has assisted 10 plants develop plans for expanding their processing capacity.      

Additionally, KCARD put together resources for both people interested in starting a processing plant and for producers looking to start direct meat sales:

1. Resource page for people wanting to open new meat processors; and

2. Resource page for farmers wanting to start local meat sales; and

3. Direct-to-Consumer Beef Webinar Series

The interest level in opening new meat processing plants has ballooned in the last year.  All told, KCARD had over 110 inquiries from people wanting to start processing plants and continues to work with many of them on business plans. 

Over $4.0 million has been invested in Kentucky small processing plants to increase capacity to process more Kentucky animals.  As a result, it is estimated that an additional 12,400 Kentucky cattle can now be processed compared to where we were at a year ago. 

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board recently approved new guidelines for the Meat Processing Investment Program for 2021. Click here to view the MPIP guidelines and deadlines for 2021.

Interest in meat processing continues to grow, and lots of questions remain about whether demand for local meat will continue its growth from last year.  Regardless, KCARD will be here to help new and existing meat processors consider how to improve for the benefit of Kentucky farmers seeking processors.