Big farm mobile harvest upgrade costs3/19/2023 ![]() Monterey County rancher George Work started a “farm-stay” program on his ranch, then found he couldn’t legally serve meat from his ranch to his guests. The mobile processing unit itself has been around since 2002. J&R Meats, a butcher shop in Paso Robles.As of summer ’09, the co-op had 7 ranchers. ![]() Central Coast Agricultural Cooperative, incorporated in August ’08, trade name “Coast Grown.” Members must be located within a 100 mile radius: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and southern Monterey counties.Deb Garrison, former coordinator of Central Coast Ag Network (trade name “Central Coast Grown”), a non-profit 501c3 established in 2004 primarily to create demand for regionally produced food.Monterey County Agricultural & Historical Land Conservancy, owned the unit.Sam Farr, Congressman from CA’s 17th district, strong supporter of local, sustainable agriculture.Central Coast Homegrown Meat Alliance, formed by George, Rex Swan, and other ranchers in the region.George Work, a Monterey County rancher who first conceived of the project.In addition, the closest processing facility had capacity and quality problems. Ranchers in the region were willing to supply the meat, but the closest USDA-inspected slaughter facility (California has no state meat inspection program) was many hours’ drive away. The Central Coast region of California has a vibrant local food system, with a strong consumer base and marketing infrastructure developed in large part by the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” public education program created by Central Coast Ag Network (trade name “Central Coast Grown”), a regional non-profit.īy 2007, regional demand for locally raised meat had become large and loud enough to warrant the significant financial and human resources needed to bring that meat from ranch to table – in particular, figuring out processing. Source verification on label: done by fabricator all meat labeled with ranch name Can do custom-exempt slaughter any day, 3 beef minimum distantĬustom work: All is custom (fee for service). Operational costs: $800+ per day without overtime, more for locations >50 mi. #/type of employees: 3: managing butcher, ass’t butcher, truck driver We checked back in on this unit in the Fall of 2012, and it is still in operation, processing about 5 to 7 beef/week at 2 different ranch sites.Ĭapacity per day: 5 to 6 beef (or 10 lambs/goats/hogs) Site requirements (including a concrete pad, a solid wall as a visual/sound barrier, and an all-metal stun chute) have restricted MSU operations to a few ranches so far, but other ranches can bring their animals to those sites. The MHU is still owned by the co-op but is leased and operated by J & R Meats, a small butcher shop in Paso Robles, which also does the hanging, cutting, and packaging. As of September 2011, the Central Coast Ag Cooperative MHU is BACK in operation, slaughtering under USDA inspection at least 2 days/week.
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