Wisconsin Farmers Union explores meat processing shortage

The lack of local meat processors has Wisconsin Farmers Union members looking for long-term solutions.

Executive Director Julie Keown-Bomar tells Brownfield their series of online meat meetings have been well-attended and cover many problems and possible solutions. “People are telling their personal stories. We had some person about two weeks ago, April Prusia, she was talking about mobile slaughtering and options there, so a pretty interesting topic and it’s definitely a hot issue.”

And, she says participants are asking a lot of questions. “How do we remove regulatory barriers, or what do we need in order to make that work? And, even with permanent sites, you know, how do we help them expand? Are there labor problems? What is it that’s causing this major jackknife in the system.”

Wisconsin Farmers Union members voted a year ago to make local meat processing bottlenecks a special order of business before the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak hit.  Some existing processors say they are booked two years in advance for meat processing.

Wisconsin Farmers Union begins its 2021 state conference virtually Saturday, and Bomar expects the topic of meat processing to come up again in delegate discussions.