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Increasing Meat Producer and Processor Successes through a Multi-Faceted Approach Resulting in Resource Development and Access on the WA Meat-Up Website

Paul Kuber, Sarah Lemon, Sarah Smith, and Blake Foraker

Summary

Livestock producers marketing meat direct-to-consumer and processors supporting this sector need access to decision-making deliverables that will help improve quality, food safety, animal health, animal wellbeing, consumer demand, profitability and sustainability. WA Meat-Up (2019) program, a partnership between Washington State University Extension (WSUE) and Washington State Department of Agriculture Regional Markets Program, has positioned itself to be the conduit for resource development and dissemination within Washington and beyond. A popular educational series offered by WSUE to producers and processors since 2006 (100, 200, 300 series) addresses many of these needs and supports decision-making from farm-to-table resulting in sustainability, profitability, and risk mitigation. The WSUE ERME-MPP project builds from the 100, 200, and 300 series, offering producer (n=8) and processor (n=8) hands-on one-day learner-engaged workshops (March through June 2024) using the WA Meat-Up mobile classroom followed by a facilitator-led discussion around the five proposed outcomes listed in the proposal. WA Meat-Up partners will then host (Fall 2024) a summit for farmers, ranchers, processors, academic professionals, and policymakers for a networking event designed from needs gathered during the producer and processor workshops. The gathered needs information, from the ERME-MPP one-day workshops and the summit, will ultimately lead to the development of five online webinars and a resource library hosted on the WA Meat-Up platform. The result will be a dynamic WA Meat-Up program website, providing producers and processors resources developed from the needs assessment gathered through interactions during the ERME-MPP project period resulting in opportunities for improved profitability.

Details

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