Direct to consumer meat sales and small scale slaughter program
About Us
Local foods have been increasing in popularity, and the desire to not rely solely
on large scale food production intensified during the COVID‐19 pandemic. There are
many food safety rules, and sales regulations that need to be understood before a
rancher can begin selling direct to consumer or retailer.
Additional hurdles include understanding how to market products and how to reach consumers
whether through direct sales or a farmers market. Additionally, there has been renewed
interest in increasing both the number and capacity of small scale slaughter facilities.
This program aims to provide educational reference materials and programming to address
these needs.
Funding for this program was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant 21LFPPOK1022-00. Its contents
are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
official views of the USDA.