Two California newspapers ran stories over the weekend with information gleaned at the UC Cooperative Extension-sponsored niche meat marketing conference, held last week in Modesto.
Conference speakers looked at unconventional production practices and uncommon meat types as ways for small-scale meat producers to set themselves apart. Today, most meat consumed in America is beef, pork and chicken and most is produced at centralized processing plants and shipped hundreds of miles before reaching consumers. Modesto Bee reporter John Holland noted that niche meats might be from goats, rabbits or other animals, grass-fed beef, from animals not administered antibiotics or growth hormones, or it might simply be meat raised close to the consumer.
"Basically, what we're looking into is going back in time, if you like, going back to smaller processing centers," the story quoted UCCE farm advisor John Harper.
However, he noted that California has a shortage of processing plants for these producers.
The Willits News sent reporter Linda Williams to the conference. She quoted Harper in the third paragraph of her story.
"The current model is built on the foundation of cheap oil, shipping cattle to a central location, processing them and redistributing the product," Harper said, according to the article.
In reference to the rapidly rising cost of oil to more than $100 per barrel, he said the idea of buying and selling local makes more and more sense, getting away from one central plant and moving more to a European model of smaller plants located close to ranchers and consumers, according the story.