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Niche livestock producer on post-pandemic challenges
A small meat processor and retailer in Indiana shared challenges they face at a recent House Ag Subcommittee hearing, including a decline in demand following the pandemic.
Jonathan Shannon and his wife Kelly of Shannon Family Farms (in Crawfordsville, Indiana) formed a small cooperative and have a storefront selling beef, pork, poultry, and eggs direct to consumers.
He says processing was not a challenge during the pandemic but storage was. “Because of course we cannot move all of that product with in a week or so, so that storage capacity needs to be there.”
And, he says, their costs have gone up because of supply chain issues.
“And of course those costs do not get absorbed by the processor, that was passed right onto the local farmers and producers. We experienced a large increase because sanitation products, PPE, was not available and that price was up.”
Shannon says they had record sales in March and April 2020 but sales have since gone down. He says their first interaction with the USDA was through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, CFAP, but they were too small to qualify for SBA Paycheck Protection Program loans.
