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3. 2026 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference

Strengthening Local Meat Supply Chains With Strategic Engagement

Sarah Blacklin

Summary

The local meat and poultry supply chain is made up of small businesses with deals built on handshakes, not contracts. Catalyzing this local meat industry means first understanding the needs of processors, farmers, and service providers so that technical assistance and risk-management tools are relevant and usable. In this session, we share how NC Choices has engaged more than 3,000 small meat farms and operators - in the processing room, on the kill floor, and in the classroom - to reduce business risk through expanded markets and increased processing efficiency.
Drawing on over 20 years of statewide programming and evaluation, we will highlight practical strategies for listening to supply-chain partners, co-designing trainings, and translating their priorities into tools they actually use (cut sheets, processing, and pricing resources). We also describe how working with national Extension and industry partners through the Meat Summit network has amplified coordination among subject-matter experts, surfaced common pain points in local meat supply chains, and created shared resources that states can adapt rather than reinvent.
Finally, we will show how our Meat Summit national team captured these impacts through digital story maps that combine data, maps, and producer/processor stories to communicate risk-management outcomes to funders, policymakers, and industry partners. Examples will emphasize marketing, and financial risk, but the approach is adaptable across enterprises and geographies. Participants will leave with concrete engagement ideas, examples of story-based evaluation, and replicable approaches they can use to strengthen small- and medium-scale meat and poultry supply chains in their own regions.

Details

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