Building Resilient Meat Supply Chains
Feb 24 | 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
Building resilient meat supply chains: wellbeing for workers, rural economies, animals, and the environment.
Deregulation, consolidation, and climate change threaten American animal agriculture. Meat production in the United States has consolidated rapidly — a few large companies control massive feedlots and meatpacking plants. As these companies compete with emerging economies like China and Brazil for profits, producers, workers, and the environment are paying the price. Deregulation of worker safety standards have contributed to massive COVID-19-outbreaks among meatpacking workers. The industry has become increasingly deregulated as plant inspections are privatized, increasing food safety concerns. Ranchlands are at risk of being converted to row crops or housing developments, and ranchers are losing their farms because market forces and climate change are making bad years more frequent. Our panelists will consider what American agriculture can do to re-imagine an industry that is good for the worker, rural economies, animals, and the planet.
Panelists
Austin Frerick
Deputy Director
Thurman Arnold Project
Magaly Licolli
Co-Founder
Venceremos
Lisa Held
Journalist
Civil Eats & Peeled
John Heyneman
Executive Director
Plank Stewardship Initiative
William Burnidge
Deputy Director, Sustainable Grazing Lands
The Nature Conservancy, Colorado
Panel 1 Debrief
Feb 24 | 6:15 PM – 6:30 PM
On-Farm Innovation for Resilience
Feb 24 | 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM
This panel will feature farmers and those who work closely beside them. It will consider how the adoption of innovative on-farm practices has increased the resilience of their operations along several dimensions: ecological, financial, social, and cultural. Farmers, scholars, and industry experts will discuss the range of factors that influence on-farm decision-making around conservation, as well as the barriers farmers face to adopting practices that support long-term resilience.
Panelists
Dr. Linda Stalker Prokopy
Professor of Natural Resources Social Science
Purdue University
Dr. Steven Rosenzweig
Soil Scientist
General Mills
Caleb Smith
Farmer & Founder
Dorset Peak Jerseys
Zack Smith
Farmer & Founder
The Stock Cropper
Christi Bland
Farmer & Owner
CMB Farm LLC
Moderator:
Jessie Deelo
Former Farmer & Founder
Deelo Consulting Services
Panel 2 Debrief
Feb 24 | 7:45 PM – 8:00 PM