Federal and state FSA brass tour new Montana meat processing co-op

The Montana Premium Processing Cooperative, which will officially open Nov. 21, hosted Tuesday high-level state and federal officials from the USDA Farm Service Agency, as well as members of the Montana Farmers Union and local officials for a tour of their new facility.

The co-op recently received a grant through the American Rescue Plan Act that focuses on increasing processing capacity and strengthening local and regional food systems.

Among those present was USDA Montana Rural Development Director Kathleen Williams, who was thanked for her efforts in getting the grant, as well as Morb Wicks, former Liberty County commissioner who was recently appointed FSA Montana executive director.

The facility will process meat for its members, with the member retaining ownership of the final product.

Co-op General Manager Bill Jones led the tour, explaining the various areas of the facility, the tools and possible plans for expansion, followed by a question and answer session along with MFU President Walt Schweitzer.

Schweitzer said there is no prohibition on non-members using the facilities, but members will get priority, and there are limits in place to make sure no one member dominates the facility at the cost of others.

Jones said their current member limit is 250 and, based on the bylaws, no one producer can use more than 30 percent of the facilities capacity at a time.

Schweitzer said the facility is designed to process about 2,000 head a year, and if they reach that number they would consider expansion to other areas at that point.

He said if they reach capacity they will consider expansion that will allow them to take their mobile harvesting unit elsewhere in the state based on where seems to be in the most need.

He also stressed that changes and variances can be granted if situations at the co-op change.

For example, he said, if a producer does end up using more than 30 percent capacity and its clear that no one else is being pushed out because of it, they can amend the rules or grant an exception if they think it's warranted.

Schweitzer also spoke about the kind of producer the co-op is appealing to, specifically smaller ones.

He said the steering committee of the co-op set it up to exclude large corporations and focus on smaller producers, as well as create a better paid and more skilled workforce.

He said large processors use a conveyor belt-method of processing animals, with employees getting really good at one particular cut and little else, which seems like an efficient model, but it's one that comes at the cost of creating a workforce that can harvest an animal on their own.

He said this incentivizes the creation of a low-skilled employee base that cannot strike out on their own and thus can be paid poverty wages.

"I think that was intentional. I think these corporate monopolies realized, 'If we can have a workforce that can't go out and compete against us, then they won't,'" he said.

Schweitzer said he believes that by creating an employee base of highly-competent butchers they will not only have a group of people earning a living wage, but one that can outperform the bigger processors.

This is a big part of the reason they hired Jones, he said, because he's not just an experienced butcher himself but he has trained a dozen others like him and loves to teach others.

Jones went into more detail about the workforce and work environment he would like to create, saying he wants to create a workplace that demands dedication and competence but doesn't push people so hard that they make mistakes.

And when mistakes do happen, Jones said, he wants people to feel that they can go to him or their higher-up and expect them to focus on solving the issue, not assigning blame and making things worse.

He said he also impresses upon workers to be frank with producers when they spot a problem with an animal, whether the animal is more lean than expected, or is dirty, or was ear tagged too recently.

They may not be happy with people when they do that, Jones said, but he has never had one not come back with the issue solved.

On a more practical level, he also talked about his hope that the facility will be able to find a way to use the non-meat parts of the animals like blood and bone, which can be sold as commodities, or as materials to create commodities, which is where larger processors make a lot of money.

Jones said if they can't do that, he hopes they can at least compost those materials.

This, and the desire for a workforce of skilled butchers, is why the co-op is hoping to partner with Montana State University-Northern.

The co-op has been in talks with Northern about the possibility of setting up a comprehensive meat science program that will produce the kinds of workers the co-op needs, workers who will have much better wages and future prospects than the people taken in by large processors and corporations.

Schweitzer said this potential partnership will be extremely important.

Indeed, after the tour, FSA and MFU members and staff went to Northern to meet with Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel and others to discuss the potential partnership.