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Eavesdropping at the New England Meat Conference BY c oriN H ir S c H
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tock your meat case with unusual cuts. Treat your farm like a business. Keep in mind book your catering event today! that “whole carcass channels From family feasts to corporate parties. make a lot of sense.” grab any slice & a rookies root beer Ag- and flesh-related wisdom for $5.99 + tax was plentiful at last weekend’s 973 Roosevelt Highway New England Meat Conference, Colchester • 655-5550 www.threebrotherspizzavt.com which drew roughly 400 farmers, butchers, smokers, packagers, researchers and others to 12v-ThreeBros012914.indd 1 1/23/14 2:39 PM a hotel conference center in Concord, N.H., for two days of livestock talk. It was the second such regional meat conference and one with a palpable buzz, fed by the growing market for local meat. “There’s clearly a demand. Probably every one of us in this room is as busy as we can be,” said Jay Smucker, owner of Pennsylvania’s Smucker’s Meats, during a packed panel on smoked meats. That demand for local, ethically and sustainably produced meat — and a desire to strengthen the food system — is what compelled Vermont’s senior agricultural development coordinator, Chelsea Bardot 112 Lake Street • Burlington Lewis, to spearhead the inauwww.sansaivt.com gural conference in 2013. Along with Sam Fuller of the Northeast Organic Farming Association 12v-SanSai010913.indd 1 1/7/13 2:08 PM of Vermont, among others, she built a program designed to assemble various tendrils of the region’s local-meat scene, from Authentic, Fresh Greek & Mediterranean Food curers and inspectors to hotshot butchers and seasoned farmers. GYROS • PANINI • SALADS “The magic of the event is the FALAFEL • BAKLAVA energy that results from bringing together meat producers, BOSNIAN GRILLED processors, butchers, distribuSPECIALTIES tors, chefs, retailers and conESPRESSO DRINKS sumers,” wrote Bardot Lewis in an email. “Attendees tell us BEER&WINE that there is no other event that 17 Park St • Essex Jct. brings together all of these key (near 5 Corners) industry professionals.” 878-9333 Last year’s inaugural conferDINE IN OR TAKE OUT ence was such a success that the Tu-Th 11-8 • F & S 11-9 • Closed Su & M second was a foregone concluFull menu www.cafemediterano.com sion. Panelists from as far away No need to travel to Montréal, Boston or as Germany traveled to Concord even Europe... we’re just minutes away! for 30 workshops on subjects 46 FOOD
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Pressing Flesh
Scenes from the New England Meat Conference
as wide ranging as butchering lambs, crafting display cases and managing waste. The diverse, mellow crowd definitely had its own vernacular. Clutches of graying producers talked HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) plans with younger, sometimes heavily inked farmers. One producer announced that he was “here for the BQA” (beef quality assurance). A rosy-cheeked twentysomething hoped to open a Massachusetts slaughterhouse. Those who listened in on “Trends in the Meat Market” (a panel including Black River Produce business development manager Sean Buchanan) learned that consumers are asking more and more for meat raised on “GMO-free and soyfree feeds.” Conference-goers who made their way to the ballroom after lunch found master butcher Kari Underly slicing a cow’s hindquarter, imploring onlookers to think creatively about new cuts of beef. “This is what I call money,” said Underly as she extracted extra cuts from a tenderloin. In a trade show outside the ballroom, reps from insurance firms, lenders, a casing company, a soon-to-open slaughterhouse and other concerns set up shop at a phalanx of tables. A few Vermonters were among them: Shirley Richardson of Vermont Chevon chatted about goats in front of her table. “I was really looking for a finishing farmer, and I think I found one,” she said. Richardson, who collaborates with Vermont Creamery, explained that 50 percent of every goat herd is unmilkable bucks — animals that need farmers willing to raise them. “There are thousands of animals” that need places to graze, she said. Over lunch, farmers talked shop at round tables. Larry Wagner of Johnson said he’d driven to Concord to learn more