{"id":119095,"date":"2023-11-01T11:20:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T17:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/?p=119095"},"modified":"2023-11-01T12:50:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T18:50:14","slug":"montana-independent-ranchers-need-customers-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/2023\/11\/01\/montana-independent-ranchers-need-customers-to-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Montana\u2019s independent ranchers need to survive? Customers."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story<\/a> was originally published Oct. 31, 2023 at <\/em>High Country News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis story also appeared in High Country News<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

In a squat 1,100-square-foot building on the outskirts of Helena lies a pile of enormous tongues. They are thick and leaden, stacked on a steel table like fish out of water. The bovines from which they came hulk nearby, cold carcasses hanging from cold hooks. Bearded men, their white coats covered in blood, rhythmically chop livers, punctuating the hum of industrial refrigeration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This small meat-processing facility, which a group of ranchers started under the name Old Salt Co-op<\/a>, is one of many that have appeared across the country recently. \u201cSmall\u201d is an understatement: Old Salt can process the equivalent of 20 cattle per week, while major meatpackers butcher thousands per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just four companies process 85% of American beef<\/a>, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Though the consolidation has long affected ranchers, it wasn\u2019t until the pandemic \u2014 when the industry made headlines with<\/a> bottlenecks, price hikes and COVID-19 outbreaks among workers<\/a> \u2014 that the general public noticed. Even the White House got involved, pledging $1 billion<\/a> to boost the nation\u2019s independent meat-processing capacity. In Montana, a state with more cows than people<\/a>, this helped at least 17 plants open<\/a> or expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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Homegrown<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

If Montanans want to keep Montana-grown food \u2014 and the associated dollars \u2014 in-state, the local supply chain will have the be expanded. That includes storage and distribution infrastructure, but the bottleneck is mostly at the food processor level.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby<\/span> Emily Stifler Wolfe<\/a><\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Without a strong customer base, Rebecca Thistlethwaite, director of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network<\/a> at Oregon State University, fears that many small processors will fail. She cited a University of Illinois study that<\/a> suggested success is contingent upon local demand. \u201cIt\u2019s not a field of dreams situation; it\u2019s not an \u2018If you build it, they will come,\u2019\u201d Thistlethwaite said. \u201cYou can\u2019t build supply chains without having that end consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit:<\/span> Susan Shain \/ High Country News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Local meatpackers <\/strong>used to be more common. In 1980, the four largest companies processed just 36% of the nation\u2019s beef. The authors of a recent USDA report<\/a> wrote that they \u201cknew of no mature American industry that displayed as dramatic a change in concentration in as short a time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cause of that consolidation: economies of scale. \u201cAs larger processors have demonstrated lower costs of production,\u201d said Eric Belasco, a professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University, \u201cit\u2019s just been harder for a smaller processing facility to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that created better margins for the \u201cBig Four\u201d meatpackers<\/a> JBS, Tyson, Cargill and Marfrig (formerly National Beef) \u2014 it hasn\u2019t lowered prices for consumers. Since the early \u201980s, the inflation-adjusted cost of ground beef<\/a> has risen by about 30%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranchers haven\u2019t benefited either. Data on net profits is difficult to find, but gross profits are certainly down. Fifty years ago, ranchers got 60 cents of every dollar that consumers spent on beef; today, it\u2019s 39 cents, according to the White House<\/a>, which noted the decline when announcing its $1 billion investment. While that money supports facility expansion and workforce development, it doesn\u2019t help build markets for local meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two decades ago, Lisa Wade Mayorga<\/a>, whose family has ranched in Montana since 1903, abandoned the Big Four and began selling beef directly to consumers. Unlike many independent ranchers, who must travel long distances<\/a> to process their meat, she had a small facility nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But earlier this year, it went up for sale, putting Wade Mayorga\u2019s business in jeopardy. So she joined four other ranching families to form the Glacier Processing Cooperative, which is purchasing the plant. Though the co-op has applied for a federal grant for new equipment, its ultimate success depends on whether its members can attract and retain enough customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit:<\/span> Susan Shain \/ High Country News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For independent ranchers, major chains \u2014 like Walmart, where 26% of America\u2019s food dollars go<\/a>, are basically out of the question. \u201cTo get into a chain grocery store, you have to have volume,\u201d explained Bill Jones, general manager of the Montana Premium Processing Cooperative<\/a>, which opened in January. And since it takes two years and roughly $2,500 to raise a single head of cattle, Jones said it\u2019s \u201ca heck of a challenge\u201d for ranchers to establish enough volume to interest a grocery chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones said the ranchers in his cooperative sell their meat online, at farmers markets or to local grocers and restaurants. \u201cAnd then some are doing all three,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Salt, <\/strong>the Helena plant with the tongues on the table, is taking yet another approach. Rather than each ranch running its own marketing and social media and fighting for a sliver of the same small pie \u2014 Montana only has 1.1 million people, after all \u2014 the company has united four ranches under a single brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of cannibalization of each other in local food,\u201d said Cole Mannix, an Old Salt co-founder whose family has been ranching in Montana for five generations. \u201cSo we decided to try to consolidate that into one kind of regional effort.\u201d Old Salt has also gone beyond selling meat online: opening a buzzy burger stand<\/a> in the heart of Helena, organizing a festival <\/a>and cookouts and ranch tours, and building a butcher-shop-slash-grill that will showcase its products and host community events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mannix hopes those efforts convince Montanans there\u2019s a value in local meat \u2014 a value that a Walmart rib-eye can\u2019t offer. \u201cHow can all these breweries survive?\u201d he asked. \u201cBecause they\u2019re a place for people to hang out. Local food is about human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoe Barnard, who lives in Helena with her partner and their four children, believes that buying locally raised, grass-fed beef is healthier for her family<\/a> and her community. And, since independent ranchers typically manage their cattle from birth to burger, rather than sending them to feedlots, she also believes it\u2019s more humane and ecologically sustainable<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a bizarre thing that you would go to the supermarket in Montana and buy meat that had come from Brazil<\/a>,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOCAL FOOD IS ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTION<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Barnard gets an Old Salt meat box every six weeks. Since it\u2019s more expensive than shopping at the store, she serves red meat only once or twice a week. Barnard has also convinced several of her friends to get on board. \u201cI\u2019m like, this is the best meat I\u2019ve ever tasted,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t even get into my politics.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether Old Salt can find more people like Barnard is an open question \u2014 and a critical one. As Mannix put it: \u201cIf customers don\u2019t change their buying habits, local meat really doesn\u2019t have a chance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think [local meat processors] are going to survive unless we see consumers step up more seriously.\u201d <\/p>Rebecca Thistlethwaite, director of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network at Oregon State University<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n

Thistlethwaite, of Oregon State University, agrees. \u201cI don\u2019t think [local meat processors] are going to survive unless we see consumers step up more seriously,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not really a message that is easy to tell. I get it: Beef is super expensive right now, it\u2019s a luxury item in my household.\u201d While Thistlethwaite said locally processed meat is often available in bulk \u2014 and is usually cheaper per pound than beef from the grocery store \u2014 she acknowledged it\u2019s not an option for many families, owing to the high up-front cost and requisite freezer space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Thistlethwaite thinks institutions like schools, prisons, hospitals, universities and government agencies<\/a> should start buying meat locally. \u201cThat would make a huge impact,\u201d she said. \u201cThere needs to be more than just household consumers purchasing local and regional meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High Country News is an independent magazine dedicated to coverage of the Western U.S.<\/em> Subscribe<\/em><\/a>, get the<\/em> enewsletter<\/em><\/a>, and follow HCN on <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> Twitter<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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