What is the Carolina Meat Institute?
NC Choices has designed a suite of educational
programs to serve the local and
niche meat supply chain.

1) Butcher Apprentice Network -Curriculum and apprentice placement program integrating farm, slaughterhouse, retail and kitchen experiences to prepare potential employees and stimulate entrepreneurship in the local meat industry. Pilot for 2012.
2) Annual Carolina Meat Conference- Statewide annual conference bringing together all the players in the local and niche meat supply chain, including farmers, processors, buyers, regulatory and marketing agencies, and Extension personnel. 
3) Regional Workshops- Workshop series held 3-4 times a year in different regions of NC, focusing on specific marketing and processing issues for farmers, processors and food professionals.
4) In-House Business Development for commercial meat processors.

Carolina Meat Institute Partners
The Butcher's Guild
Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Following this link to the offical Photo Album of the First
Annual Carolina Meat Conference held in March 2011.

See NC Choices publication How to Start a Meat Buying Club

A few food-buying clubs focused on local foods that include meat have emerged in North Carolina, including

• Know Your Farm (www.knowyourfarms.com) near Charlotte, NC
  
• Triangle Meat Buying Club (www.trianglemeatbuyingclub.com) in Raleigh, NC
  
• Go Local NC Farms (www.golocalncfarms.com) based in Concord, NC
  Farm to Fork Meats (www.farmtoforkmeat.com) based in Raleigh, NC
  

Buying Clubs in Faith Based Communities
Are you interested in starting a meat buying club at your church or place of worship?  NC Choices is collaborating with the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) in a project called Come to the Table: people of faith sustaining local farms and releiving hunger in North Carolina.

Come to the Table is an on-going project that explores the connections between food secuirty, faith and farms, including community leaders and ministers, nonprofits, government officials and individuals. We work together as people of faith to create a food system that feeds our communities, supports farmers and farmworkers, and fosters a connection to the land.

Download the 40 page PDF Come to the Table. Contact Claire Hermann, RAFI coordinator of the Come to the Table Project at claire@rafiusa.org

Jeffery Wells & Jody Thompson
Wells, Jenkins, Wells Fresh Meats

NOW PROCESSING UNDER USDA INSPECTION.

A Butcher's Story- Grady Wells
The Wells family did just about anything to keep food on the table. The young brothers, Grady and Billy Wells were fortunate to have a farm, a sawmill and a strong will to work. When it came to providing for the big family, “we had young’uns to feed and you did whatever you had to do,” according to Grady. Throughout the 1960s, the family mostly ate off the farm and sawmilled for cash and trade for what they could not grow. Like many rural Americans at that time, the brothers raised and killed the family’s own beef, pork and poultry for sustenance.

Grady was unusually skilled with a knife and did not mind the work of creating food from animals, so he became well known for his on-farm butcher services. People hauled animals from miles around to have them “worked up” in the farm shed under the admiring eye of Grady’s young son Jeffery. “That boy knew how to cut meat before he could read”, Grady remarks.  Butchering on the farm was a good source of income for the Wells but not exactly legal in the eyes of the State of North Carolina. This activity had to be kept kind of quiet, not easy to do when your services are in demand. State inspectors had taken to flying over the Wells Farm periodically to look for tell-tell signs of illegal butcher activity. In order to slaughter hogs, great fires were built to heat water to scald the carcasses. These fires were easily visible by the flyovers and on April 15^th, 1970 the state Meat Inspectors raided the Wells Farm and issued a “cease and desist” order.  As the inspectors left, the Supervisor told the brothers, “unless you want to go to jail, don’t kill another animal here for someone else until you build a plant”. 

Demand for butchering services were great and with “young’uns to feed” the Wells brothers, once again, did what they had to do.  They commenced to building their plant.  They had very little money but owned the sawmill and land. By hand, Grady and his brother cut down the pine trees on a few acres at the corner of the farm, close enough to a road to get trucks in. Using the farm tractor, they pulled stumps and graded the earth until it was flat enough to build. Grady remembers knocking 2 inches of ice off of the same pine logs that winter in order to saw the lumber to build the walls and roof.  While under construction, Grady looked for processing equipment- a cooler and bandsaw were first needed. He found a man who had these items and traded him the family sawmill for their first butcher equipment. By the fall of 1975 the plant was completed and with the blessings of the State of North Carolina, Wells Meat Processing was permitted and in business.

Earl Jenkins passed on in 1992.

Grady’s son Jeffery grew up working with his father and in 1992, he joined the family business as a partner and now serves as Head Meat Cutter and HACCP coordinator. Years of watching his father’s knife work has given him an appreciation for both traditional and new butchery technique.

Jody Thompson married Billy Wells’ daughter, began working at Wells Jenkins in 1990 and joined as a partner in 2006. Jody works closely with farmers to ensure orders are carried out precisely and oversees the daily operations, ensuring high standards for customer service and product quality are met.

Grady Wells retired in August 2011.

The team at Wells Jenkins looks forward to serving more direct marketing local meat producers with expanded products and services in the future. Under consideration are services such as smoked and cured products. Please contact them if you are interested in these and other services.

For 35 years, Wells, Jenkins, Wells Fresh Meats has served their local community with fine service and attention to quality.  Processing under USDA inspection 5 days a week, Wells is ready to work for NC farmers who direct market local, natural, pastured and farm raised meats.

Wells, Jenkins, Wells Fresh Meats
USDA Inspected
Jeffery Wells
Jody Thompson
145 Rollins Road
Forest City, NC 28043
Rutherford County
828-245-5544
wellsjenkins@gmail.com

Species: cattle, goats, sheep, swine, deer
Value Added Products: Breakfast Sausage, Italian Sausage, Bratwurst, Chorizo
Custom labeling available, transparent vaccum pack available

Agricultural Related Non-Profit Organizations

Animal Welfare Approved
www.animalwelfareapproved.org

Heifer International
www.heifer.org

Carolina Farm Stewardship Associaton
www.carolinafarmstewards.org

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
www.asapconnections.org

American Livestock Breeds Association
www.albc-usa.org

Organic Growers School
www.organicgrowersschool.org

Rural Advancement Foundation International
www.rafiusa.org

Toxic Free NC
www.toxicfreenc.org

Small Scale Meat Processing

From Farm to Fork? An Emperical Investigation of the Challenges Faced by NC's Small Meatpackers- Tina Prevatte, Farmhand Foods

North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDACS)
Meat and Poultry Inspection Division
http://www.ncagr.gov/MeatPoultry/

Small Meat Processors Working Group- Iowa State University
Beef and Pork Whole Animal Buying Guide (40page PDF)
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM2076.pdf

Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network
http://www.nichemeatprocessing.org/index.html

Small Scale Poultry Processing- ATTRA
Anne Fanatico
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultryprocess.html

NC Choices White Paper- Growth in the Niche Meat Sector in North Carolina
Jennifer Curtis, Casey McKissick, Kathryn Spann- March 2011

Marketing Pastured Meats

NCDA Meat Handlers License- FAQs
http://www.agr.state.nc.us/MeatPoultry/meathandlers.htm

Goodness Grows in North Carolina
http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/gginc/index.htm

Beef Marketing Alternatives- ATTRA
Anne Fanatico
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/altbeef.pdf

Pork Marketing Alternatives-ATTRA
Lance Gegner
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/altpork.pdf

Direct Marketing - ATTRA
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/directmkt.pdf

Growing Your Range Poultry Business: An Entreprenuer's Toolbox- ATTRA
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/poultrytoolbox.pdf

Find Local Farms and Products

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project Local Food Guide
http://www.buyappalachian.org/

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Food Guide to NC & SC
http://www.carolinafarmstewards.org/advanced.shtml

Local Harvest- National Guide
http://www.localharvest.org/

North Carolina General Store (NCDACS)
http://www.ncagr.gov/NCproducts/index.htm

North Carolina Farm Fresh
http://www.ncfarmfresh.com/farms.asp

Farm Tourism

Sleep in the Hay Nationwide Farmstay Service
www.sleepinthehay.com

Farm Blogs

Sustainable Table -Triangle, NC focused local food blog
http://sustainablegrub.wordpress.com/

Other

Sustainable Table
http://www.sustainabletable.org/home.php

Kenneth Strader

We are members of the American Grass-fed Beef Association and are Animal Welfare Approved. We are medication and added hormone free. We offer value-added products that are nitrate, gluten and preservative free.

5434 Amick Road
Julian, NC 27283
336-607-7005
kennethstrader@yahoo.com
www.meadowsfamilyfarms.com

95 Peter Hardin Lane
Elk Park, NC 28622
828-733-4938
troslyfarm@att.com
www.troslyfarm.com

Jeremiah and JoAnn Jones

Jones Family Farm is an excited and growing farm conveniently located outside of Burgaw, just 25 miles north of Wilmington, NC. Owned by Jeremiah and JoAnn and out five young daughters, we have been growing our own food since our family began in 1997. We understand wanting to feed your family safe and healthy food, that's why each member of our family contributes to provide you with a natural, quality product. From free-range poultry and eggs, to pastured pork, grass-fed beef and chemical free produce, there are many sites to see on our 74 acre farm.

5376 Stag Park Road
Burgaw, NC 28425
910-367-6077
joann@jonesfamilyfarmnc.com
www.jonesfamilyfarmnc.com

The NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Veterinary Division releases FAQ on new Swine in Transport Bill.

Please follow the link
Swine in Transport Bill FAQ

For more background information on this topic, please see

June 2nd-NC Choices Response to HB 432 Swine in Transport Bill

June 28th- HB 432 as signed by Gov. Purdue 8/27/11

July 15- Listening Session Annoucement