I did buy a Globe though.
"Livestock farmers in Mass. face processing bottlenecks" by Alison Arnett | Globe Correspondent February 14, 2014
Jamie Cruz is looking ahead to spring and the Easter season with more than a little trepidation this year.
She and her mother raise lambs, Angus beef, and other livestock at Springdell Farms in Littleton, and four generations of customers rely on them for the Greek Easter lamb. But this year, finding dates to have their lambs slaughtered and processed in time for holiday feasts is stressful, especially after a fire in late December leveled one of only two USDA-inspected meat-processors in the state.
“We have high demand for our product,” says Cruz. “People are very interested in where their food comes from. But the biggest downfall is the lack of meat processing.”
Theirs is a tale repeated across Massachusetts — plenty of demand for locally raised meats but long waiting times for slaughtering or long hours driving to reach out-of-state facilities. The local food movement has been a boon for farmers, but for meat producers in particular, the system for getting their product to the table has not kept pace with rising demand.
Their problems were brought to the forefront in late December with the devastating fire that destroyed the meat processing facility at Blood Farm in Groton, the closest facility for farmers in Central and Eastern Massachusetts
“It’s a good time for farmers in Massachusetts, but it could be a hell of a lot better,” said Brad Mitchell of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, a farmers’ trade group.
This in a recovery allegedly outpacing the nation.
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Blood Farm has since reopened its slaughterhouse, but only one day a week. The meat processing plant — where aging and cutting was done — was destroyed, so farmers have to find another facility for that lengthier process.
That leaves farmers with only one other US-inspected slaughterhouse and meat processing plant in Massachusetts, Adams Farm in Athol....
Way out here?
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Related: Boston Globe Slaughterhouse
