Worried about our food supplies in pandemic? Local farmers have the answer.

Amid the devastation wreaked by COVID-19— unemployment numbers, death counts and general despair— a small government meeting on Friday picked up on a possible silver lining brought about by pandemic.

The Agriculture Development Board decided to start a $1 million fund to help Kentucky’s 30 small and medium-sized meat processors expand and improve their “kill capacity” for Kentucky animals. That could be money for new equipment, or in many cases, more cooler space, all funded with tobacco settlement dollars.

So maybe slaughterhouses are not an archetypal positive, but the board’s vote came in answer to a huge upswing in demand for local meat that could potentially be here to stay. That in turn could boost the local farm movement — for meat and vegetables — in ways often hoped for, but that often seem out of reach.

“If there’s a bright spot in COVID-19, it’s a greater appreciation for local agriculture,” said Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who is vice-chair of the development board. “That is the story across our nation — for the first time in our generation, we’ve gone to the grocery store and it’s not fully stocked, people have had more time in the kitchen, and the desire for local agriculture is strong. We hope the commitment to buy local is not a fad but is permanent, and the focus on improved meat processing is a great first step.”

As many know, Kentucky is the biggest cattle producer east of the Mississippi, but most cattle are shipped to midwestern feed lots for processing at massive meatpacking facilities, some of them now shut down because of COVID-19 among the workers. That’s sent huge tremors through the meat supply chain, which is why many grocery stores are limiting sales of meat. In turn, more people are turning to local farmers, who are trying to meet demand with more animals sent to the same small processors they’ve always used.

Only those processors are now completely booked.

Central Kentucky Custom Meats in Casey County is fully scheduled through January, 2021. Marksbury Farms in Garrard County isn’t taking new customers either. They’ve been selling more pasture-raised beef and chicken at Good Foods and Kroger, trying to keep up with demand.

“I think people are recognizing how fragile the larger food system is,” said Cliff Swaim of Marksbury. “It has caused many to consider more seriously where their food comes from and what can happen when the system breaks down. For many folks, it’s prompting them to get to know their grower and participate in a more local and streamlined food supply.”

‘The right price’

Last month, my colleague Janet Patton documented how quick action and flexibility by local farmers was able to fulfill a new hunger for locally grown food. Small local farms like Salad Days, which sold most of their produce to the University of Kentucky, shifted to on farm stores, or CSAs, in which they deliver weekly shares of vegetables and meat.

It’s not just that we’re spending time at home and have gotten more interested in cooking. I think there are some deeper issues: the need to know that there are food supply chains outside of massive grocery chains, and the knowledge that fewer people are touching your food. There’s also the idea, however little we like to think about where meat comes from, that a cow that walks in from a nearby field will be better treated at a small processor than being shipped hundreds of miles to a feed lot where they’ll be slaughtered with thousands of other animals in a day.

“Any time you are dealing on a small scale, you’re gonna get a higher level of attention and care. Animal welfare, land stewardship, food safety, and working conditions all improve in a localized and pasture-centered food system” Swaim said. “You typically pay a little more at the register, but that’s a reality when you are dealing in dozens or hundreds of something, rather than millions. However, in recent days as general supply has been more limited, we’ve seen the gap begin to close between commodity prices and that of locally raised and grass fed products. “

We’re addicted to cheap food and lots of it, which has been written and talked about forever. Nothing has ever budged us from it, however, until now.

“Most of us can afford to pay more for food, we just didn’t have to,” said Mac Stone, owner of Elmwood Stock Farm, whose CSA program sold out for the first time this year. “The cheap food policy out of DC was in name of national security, but now when the supply chains break down we have real security issues.”

As both Stone and Quarles have pointed out, four beef processors control 80 percent of the market this country. (Quarles and Attorney General Daniel Cameron just wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking them to investigate possible market mainpulation issues.)

“We put out national security in the hands of four companies,” Stone said. “I think there’s more stability and security in diversity.”

Aleta Botts, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, said it’s hard to be optimistic about changes in food systems, which are massive and hard to move, but the meat processing fund is a good step.

“We are not a puppy-sunshine-rainbows place, we try to be very candid,” she said. “Having said that, this is unprecedented — these changes are prompting people to look at where they locate their food supply differently than they ever have. I’m optimistic this will create opportunities and the opportunities will not just be a flash in the pan.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 10:12 AM.