Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network

Over the past several years, there is an increase of consumer demand for local food -- including local meat. That means there are new people entering the local meat processing scene and often they aren’t sure where to turn to learn more.

In 2007 Oregon State University Research Associate Dr. Lauren Gwin and an Iowa State University colleague created the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network to create a hub for people and organizations wanting small meat processors to thrive. Dr. Gwin shares

Gwin: “And what we were trying to do was put together a place where it could be a hub of information. We could gather best practices, lessons learned, case studies and a lot of really useful informational material in a website. Then create a forum through our list serve where people could ask and answer each others’ questions. We now almost six years later, have a really active list serve where people from around the country -- farmers, processors, and agencies and non-profits. We have this base of great extension faculty from Land Grant Universities and other places all over the country. They are really solving each others problems. It’s really exciting.”

If you want to learn more go to www.nichemeatprocessing.org.