NMPAN Webinars

Next NMPAN Webinars:

This webinar has been postponed until January 2020. The fall is simply too busy for processors. Thank you for your understanding.

Value-Added Meat Processing Series: How to produce delicious & safe consumer-friendly meat products

Co-sponsored by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) and the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)

A brown-bag lunch webinar series. Each webinar will be just 45 minutes long. Take your lunch (or breakfast) break and join us. 9am PST/12pm EST

Week 1: Basics of Curing: Bacons & Hams, speakers TBA
Week 2: Jerkys
Week 3: Meat Bars, Snack Sticks, & RTE meats
Week 4: Dry Cured Meats: Salami, Proscuitto, & Others, speakers TBA

Each week listen to one expert processor and one food safety professional discuss equipment, process, quality, and safety considerations for each of these value-added meat products. More details forthcoming.

All NMPAN webinars are open to the public and free of charge.

NMPAN webinars are recorded and archived below, by topic.
A few selected webinars from other groups are also listed.

Click on a webinar's title for the slides, speaker info, and recording.

Topic Areas (click to jump to a topic):

Local Meat and Poultry Processing: the Big Picture
Regulations and Policy
Management and Accounting Tools for Processors
Business Planning and Plant Design
Food Safety
Mobile Units
Waste Management
Working Effectively With Your Processor
Animal Welfare Best Practices

Local Meat and Poultry Processing: the Big Picture

Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflections on 10 years in the Niche Meat Processing Sector

Date: February 20, 2018

Duration: 76 minutes

What has happened in the world of niche meats and processing over the last decade? What does the future look like? How has NMPAN impacted businesses in the niche meat sector? Leaders in the world of niche meats shared their thoughts in this unique panel discussion.

Panelists included:

Dr. Lauren Gwin, co-founder and director of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network (NMPAN)
Mike Lorentz, owner of Lorentz Meats in Cannon Falls, MN
Cory Carman, owner of Carman Ranch in Wallowa, OR
Joe Cloud, co-owner/general manager of True & Essential Meats in Harrisonburg, VA
Samantha Garwin, president of Fleishers Craft Butchery in New York, NY
Heather Sanford, owner of The Piggery, Ithaca, NY

Local Meat Processing: Successes and Innovations

Date: April 19, 2013

Duration: 90 minutes

Host: National Good Food Network

Local meat and poultry can’t get to market without a processor, but processors are pulled in many directions: Farmers would like more processing options, but the kind of processing needed depends on the market, the regulations are complex, and even with premium-priced meats, the profit margins are slim.

So how can local meat processing survive ... and even thrive? On this webinar, Lauren Gwin and Arion Thiboumery, co-founders of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, share the results of their research on this topic, featuring innovations and lessons learned from successful processors around the country. We also heard from several regional support efforts -- in Vermont, New York, and North Carolina -- to improve access to local processing.

To Build or Not to Build: Lessons Learned from New Processing Ventures

Date: September 28, 2011

Duration: 1 hour

Finding a processor that does what you need, when you need it, can be challenging. Building a new facility to meet that need might seem like a good idea. Sometimes it is, but often it isn't. On this webinar, we'll discuss what works -- and what doesn't work -- when building new processing facilities. Our speakers share lessons learned, with real examples from the field.

Building the Capacity of Small Meat Processors: Successes and Lessons from North Carolina

Date: January 7, 2015

Duration: 1 hour

Local meat and poultry markets rely on small processors with a range of skills and services. NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University, spent two years working with a set of small processors in North Carolina, providing a range of technical assistance and support. The goal? Improve the quality and quantity of processing services available to the state's livestock producers and to enhance the economic viability of both producers and processors. On this webinar, NC Choices and two processors who participated in the project will tell us how they did it, what they accomplished, and why it matters.

Talk is Cheap ... and Efficient! Facilitating value chain development without costly new infrastructure

Date: January 22, 2015

Duration: 90 minutes

Host: National Good Food Network

Let's face it: food hubs are sexy! So are other Good Food infrastructure projects, such as regionally-scaled meat processing plants. And for good reason: these businesses are often filling gaps or bottlenecks in regional and local food systems. However, sometimes it's not a LACK of infrastructure that leads to bottlenecks; it is incomplete or inefficient USE of the infrastructure that stymies the system. "Value Chain Coordinators" are people who work to connect the dots in a value chain. They ensure the right people, goods and resources connect with each other. Most often value chain coordinators work outside day-to-day business operations, a vantage point that offers a unique perspective on the optimal solutions in a regional market. This expanded webinar dives deep into the approaches people across the country are taking to improve the food system without costly new infrastructure. NMPAN Director Lauren Gwin discusses the critical role of the value chain facilitator in local and regional meat processing.

Plant in a Box: A Solution for USDA-Inspected Poultry Processing?

Date: February 25, 2016

Duration: 75 minutes

Small-scale poultry producers are well aware that finding USDA-inspected processing is a big challenge. Very few inspected poultry plants do fee-for-service processing, far fewer than for red meat, largely because it is hard to be profitable. David Schafer, owner and founder of Featherman Equipment and NMPAN member, may have found a solution. He has built a “Plant in a Box” (PIB) that aims to be a turnkey answer for those looking to process chickens, turkeys and other poultry under USDA-inspection. The PIB utilizes a recycled shipping container and comes ready to go: all the operator needs is a site pad, water, power, and a plan for effluent.

On this webinar, we talked with David Schafer about how the PIB concept got started and their plans for the future. Then, we heard from John Smith of Maple Wind Farm in Vermont. Maple Wind Farm is the first farm in the country to own and operate a PIB. Smith told us about how they got started, successes, challenges and surprises along the way, and plans for the future. Note: there were some technical difficulties with the audio on the webinar so if you have questions on any of the material presented, email us at nmpan@oregonstate.edu and we'll connect you with the presenters.

Think Inside the Box: Containerized Meat Processing Solutions

Date: January 26, 2017

Duration: 65 minutes

Building a meat processing plant is not easy nor inexpensive. What if there were models that were quicker to build, faster to get online, and required less capital, particularly for smaller-scale producers? In this webinar you will hear about two such shipping container meat plant models, one for red meat and the other for poultry. Dr. Michele Pfannestiel of Dirigo Food Safety will discuss her Locker model and David Schafer will share his Plant in the Box unit. Hear about the design, equipment, site requirements, costs, and economics. The Locker is primarily for cut and wrap or value-added processing. The Plant in the Box is for full processing (slaughter through packaging) of poultry species.

Local Meat to Local Schools: Lessons Learned from the Montana Beef to School Project

Date: March 23, 2017

Duration: 67 minutes

The Montana Beef to School Project is a three-year collaborative project between several Montana beef producers and processors, schools and many stakeholders represented in the Montana Beef to School Coalition. In this recorded webinar you will hear from one of the project leaders, Thomas Bass of Montana State University Extension along with one of the key processing partners, Jeremy Plummer of Lower Valley Processing in Kalispell, about what they learned over the three years of this project.
Some of what you will learn in this webinar includes:

Discover the creative ways schools are working with producers and processors in Montana to procure local Montana beef.
Bring tested beef to school strategies to your own community through lessons learned from case studies across six beef to school partnerships in Montana.
Hear from the processor about the equipment, ordering systems, distribution, pricing, and other logistics of selling beef to schools.

Local Meat to Local Institutions- Challenges & Opportunities for Farmers & Packers

Date: Thursday, June 27, 2019

*Unfortunately, due to a technical error, this webinar was not recorded. You can scroll through the slide decks below under each speaker.

This panel included a farmer, a regional meat brand, and a vertically-integrated niche meat processor discussing the pros, cons, logistics and pricing of selling meat to institutions such as schools, hospitals, universities, and corporate kitchens. Is this the mid-scale market you have been dreaming of? We also heard briefly from a USDA AMS local foods specialist regarding grant and loan programs that could be used to advance this type of market channel diversification. This webinar was co-sponsored by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service as part of a cooperative agreement with NMPAN.

Samantha Schaffstall, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. See Sam's slides here: NMPAN_Sschaffstall.pdf
Kathryn Quanbeck, Carman Ranch. This regional meat brand that started with just one grassfed beef producer and has now partnering with 6 other producers specializes in grassfed beef and pastured pork for the wholesale and retail trade. They currently process and market around 2,000 beef a year. See Kathryn's NMPAN Webinar - Carman Ranch 6.25.19.pdf.
Carole Soule, Miles Smith Farm. See Carole's local beef logo here: Local-Oval.png
Greg Gunthorp, Gunthorp Farms & Brushy Prairie Packing. See Greg's slides here: Sales To Institutions.pptx

Regulations and Policy

Engagement with FSIS Policy: Experiences From The Field

Date: August 17, 2017

Duration: 75 minutes

Hear from a panel of speakers who are engaging with USDA FSIS policy as it relates to small meat plants and niche meats. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, with NMPAN's help, is steering a small plant policy group that is meeting quarterly with top FSIS leadership to address policy concerns for small operators. These concerns include issues around humane handling rules, inspector training, pathogen testing, labeling, outreach to small plants, funding, and more. Learn what these folks are up to, what concerns are most pressing for them, and what they believe are potential policy levers for change. We will conclude with next steps and ways others can get involved in having their voices heard. Speakers included: Ferd Hoefner, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Carrie Balkom, American Grassfed Association, Brian Sapp, White Oak Pastures, Denise Perry, Lorentz Meats, Greg Gunthorp, Gunthorp Family Farm, and Lauren Gwin of NMPAN.

Validation of Dried and Fermented Meats: Tools for Small Processors

Date: Sept.30, 2015

Duration: 90 minutes

Specialty fermented and dried meat products, from jerky to biltong, are growing in popularity, and an increasing number of small meat processors are making these products for their own sales or on a co-packing basis. HACCP regulations require these processors to use "validated" processes -- that is, processes scientifically proven to kill dangerous pathogens. That kind of scientific support can be hard to track down. On this webinar, we learned about tools that small processors can use to assure their products are safe and in compliance with regulations. This webinar was an online version of a recent symposium by these speakers at the 2015 International Association for Food Protection Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Cooperative Interstate Shipment: How's It Working Out?

Date: Feb. 4, 2014

Duration: 1 hour

The Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill and launched by USDA-FSIS in 2012, allows state-inspected meats from qualifying plants to be shipped across state lines. The goal of the program is to expand market opportunities for small meat and poultry processors. Ohio, Wisconsin, and North Dakota were the first three states to qualify, and Indiana is working on it. On this webinar, we heard from state inspection program directors, processors, and others about their experiences with the program so far and what it took to qualify. An official from FSIS provided background on the CIS program.

Cooperative Interstate Shipment: Updates from FSIS

Date: Sept. 18, 2014

Duration: 1 hour

On this webinar FSIS discusses the current status of the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program in Ohio. Speakers and representatives from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, FSIS, and U