Investing in Local Meat

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Ranchers in the bay area are taking things into their own hands to bring meat processing capabilities to the region. The Bay Area Ranchers Cooperative, will allow members to process their meat at cost, says co-op vice president Adam Parks.

Parks… “One of the benefits to the co-op model is if we start off where we're going to charge, let's say $250 to harvest a beef. And at the end of the year, it turns out that the true cost of harvesting that beef is $200. That member is going to get that $50 back through their capital account and based on their patronage, how much they're using the co-op. So the nice thing about being a member of the co-op is that you're always going to pay, you know, the actual cost of killing the animals, as opposed to going to use another slaughter facility where they've got profit margins to make, et cetera.”

To raise the amount of money required for a mobile meat processing unit, the cooperative has started a crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder. Backers will receive equity in the venture.

Parks… “Let's say that the amount that you invest warrants a hundred dollar dividend at the end of the first year in co-op credit. So then you would be able to say, okay, I want a gift certificate for Victorian Farmstead Meat Company. And you would then go spend that with me at Victorian Farmstead. And so what it does is it allows the investors to participate in the success of the members.”

To learn more about the Bay Area Ranchers Cooperative, search for their page on WeFunder.com: https://wefunder.com/bay.area.ranchers.