One thing that the Covid 19 pandemic showed us as consumers, was that food security could easily become an issue in the United States. With layoffs and shutdowns, we rapidly saw the grocery store shelves become bare. This was increasingly true at the meat counter. That, along with the desire for consumers to know where their food comes from, significantly increased the demand for local meat products. As a result, there has been a heightened demand for more local beef and pork producers to offer farm fresh meats directly to consumers. It was with the increased number of local producers navigating the direct to consumer meat markets, we saw the need and demand for educational opportunities related to the production and marketing of farm fresh meats. 

In September 2024, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Agents in Logan, Todd, and Christian counties partnered together to offer a comprehensive, 4-week program called “Raising the Steaks,” focusing on providing resources, tools, and production education to meat producers. The “Raising the Steaks” program was a two-hour, weekly educational class each Thursday in September. The program covered topics of livestock facilities, finishing nutrition, the economics behind setting your price, cattle marketing, and direct to consumer marketing. The addition of a beef cooking demonstration helped producers taste and feel the differences in beef quality grades so that they are more confident in educating their customers about the products they are providing. A producer panel also allowed the new producers an opportunity to speak directly to current local meat suppliers which helped provide guidance to some of the decisions they will have to make. The “Raising the Steaks” program concluded with a beef grading and cutting demonstration at a local custom meat processor, Hampton Premium Meats. The facility tour gave the participants a rare opportunity to see first-hand the step by step operations of the facility and how their products would be handled with the upmost care, furthering the impact of their own marketing abilities. 

The average nightly attendance was 21 producers, representing 16 farms, over the 4-week program. As a result of the program, all of the reporting participants stated they had increased their knowledge in the possible structures/facilities that they may be able to implement as well as their knowledge on marketing terms and strategies that may positively impact their operations. 92% of the producers reported having a better understanding of proper nutrition for finishing cattle and the same 92% plan to improve their nutrition plan for their cattle. As a whole, the participants boasted plans to evaluate their feed rations, clean waters more often, change farm water sources to be more desirable, create or improve their marketing plans, as well as “really find out our total cost to make sure our margins are within market.”

Covid 19 brought on several challenges to the agriculture community but it also opened some great opportunities for our local meat producers. The “Raising the Steaks” program gave producers the opportunity to become educated on the tools and resources available to better equip them to be more successful and provide a high quality products to our communities.