It's the under the radar part that is the strength of the small operators.
There is right now the beginnings of a potentially major change in the consumer culture of this country. It's the trend to buying local, and we should not underestimate it. The mass produced industrial style food system that we have in place right now is losing favour with every recall and every outbreak of food related illness.
I believe that in the next few years this will only gain strength. Who better to step in and fill this potential consumer demand than the small local operators? It's a totally different type of culture, and it's not one that big corporations fit into.
I would bet that if someone did a consumer survey and asked people if they would prefer to buy locally produced meat products from local sources, that they would say yes. I bet they would also say that they don't know where to find them.
I sell vegetables at the local farmer's market, and last summer I watched a young couple sell enough local pork and lamb from a deep freeze in the back of their half ton truck to make a living. They use the market to make contacts with consumers, and then they deliver pork to town all winter to the same people. They are getting by on a fraction of the numbers of livestock that the guys with the big million dollar barns are raising. I bought a few chops myself, and they were the best pork chops I'd had since we used to raise our own pigs.
This market may seem small now, and everyone may think that there aren't enough consumers to go around, but just think what would happen if the same people who buy at the grocery store every week switched to buying from their local farmer instead? The market is there, we just have to find a way to take part in it. Changes in culture take some time, but they are real, and I think this one is happening right now.
This is the kind of thing that the 50 million needs to be spent on.
There is right now the beginnings of a potentially major change in the consumer culture of this country. It's the trend to buying local, and we should not underestimate it. The mass produced industrial style food system that we have in place right now is losing favour with every recall and every outbreak of food related illness.
I believe that in the next few years this will only gain strength. Who better to step in and fill this potential consumer demand than the small local operators? It's a totally different type of culture, and it's not one that big corporations fit into.
I would bet that if someone did a consumer survey and asked people if they would prefer to buy locally produced meat products from local sources, that they would say yes. I bet they would also say that they don't know where to find them.
I sell vegetables at the local farmer's market, and last summer I watched a young couple sell enough local pork and lamb from a deep freeze in the back of their half ton truck to make a living. They use the market to make contacts with consumers, and then they deliver pork to town all winter to the same people. They are getting by on a fraction of the numbers of livestock that the guys with the big million dollar barns are raising. I bought a few chops myself, and they were the best pork chops I'd had since we used to raise our own pigs.
This market may seem small now, and everyone may think that there aren't enough consumers to go around, but just think what would happen if the same people who buy at the grocery store every week switched to buying from their local farmer instead? The market is there, we just have to find a way to take part in it. Changes in culture take some time, but they are real, and I think this one is happening right now.
This is the kind of thing that the 50 million needs to be spent on.
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