October 2015 — NC Growing Together supported the NC Choices Carolina Meat Conference, October 12-13 in Winston-Salem, NC. The conference brought together over 400 local meat supply chain professionals including livestock producers, James Beard Award-winning chefs, master butchers, commercial meat processors, allied non-profit organizations and government agencies. NCGT sponsored ten sessions focused on enhancing farmer capacity to produce profitably and building value chain connections to retail and wholesale markets. Here are some highlights:
In Market-Sizing and Tracking Revenue on a Whole Animal Basis: A Tutorial Plus Take-Home Tool to Strategically Build Your Meat Business , Tina Prevatte of Firsthand Foods and Jessica Moore of Philly CowShare shared valuable business tools for meat producers and retailers. Firsthand Foods’ Carcass Estimator Tool (will be available on NC Choices’ website soon) is an Excel spreadsheet that allows a producer to track revenue per animal and for specific cuts, and determine how to adjust production and sales for maximum profitability. Philly CowShare’s Market Sizing Presentationoutlines a method for determining the market demand for local pastured beef and pork in NC.
In Are You Ready to Finance Your Growing Meat Business, concrete advice was given for producers and small business owners considering borrowing capital to finance a growth or expansion in their business. Arion Thiboumery of Vermont Packing House, Justin Meddis of Rose’s Meat Market and Sweet Shop, Steve Saltzman of Self-Help Credit Union, and Rick Larson of Natural Capital Investment Fund shared a wealth of practical and anecdotal advice. See Arion’s presentation here.
In Reducing Risk: Legal Agreements for your Business and Across the Supply Chain, Jason Foscolo of The Food Law Firmshared practical information about the unique legal risks faced by producers and processors, and the business interdependency within the niche meat sector. See his presentation here.
NCGT and NC Choices collaborated on a Niche Meat Producers Survey in 2013. A follow-up survey will be conducted this winter to track the growth and changes of the niche meat industry in North Carolina.
This article originally appeared in the October 2015 NC Growing Together Newsletter.