Interesting article in the Washington Post on mobile slaughterhouses. These are stainless steel "industrial facilities" on wheels that bring a butcher and federal meat inspector to small farms.
There are only 1051 licensed slaughterhouses in the U.S. Because of this, it can be very expensive for small farms to transport their herds to these facilities for processing. Mobile slaughterhouses make this easier and more efficient.
The more interesting part of the article - let's face it, killing animals is not a hot topic for most - is the discussion on the shift at the Department Agriculture towards supporting small farms and local food. Key quote from the article:
"Under the Obama administration and the 2008 farm bill passed by Congress, the USDA is shifting attention to small and mid-size farms, encouraging organic and sustainable agriculture, and investing in projects to bring locally grown meat and produce to consumers.
"There is unbelievable consumer interest in local agriculture that we haven't seen in decades," said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. She is overseeing the agency's "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program, designed to revive the processing, marketing and distribution networks that once made small farming viable but disintegrated in the last 30 years as U.S. agriculture went through a dramatic consolidation."
While small farms are not going to replace large farms anytime soon, the USDA is projecting that the market for locally grown food will be about $7 billion by 2012, up steeply from $4 billion in 2002.
We cover small farms and local food - part of the broader new localism movement - in our Small Farms category.
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