With A Possible Meat Shortage Looming, People Are Turning To Local Farms
HINGHAM (CBS) - With major concerns about the country's meat supply, now there's a local way to keep your freezer full; meat CSAs, similar to the vegetable programs many people have joined. CSA means Community Supported Agriculture. You buy a share and you periodically pick up your food. Some Massachusetts farms are doing that for meat and poultry, and a growing number of people are joining.
At Weir River Farm in Hingham, they have the meats. All available through buying shares.
"The customer pays a lump sum at the beginning of the month or the beginning of the season, and they come and pick up their shares," said Nathan Wallace, one of the Weir River farmers. You get 7 pounds per month for a half share and 14 pounds per month for a full share. "A typical meat CSA share is composed of 4 pounds of cuts. So that'll be ribs, roasts, steaks. A whole chicken sometimes. The additional 3 pounds of the share, the customer is able to pick, and that'll typically be pork sausage, ground meat," Wallace explained.
Weir River is one of six Massachusetts farms owned by the Trustees of Reservations, where the food is locally and sustainably grown. "I think we're seeing how much more flexible this model is compared to large scale agriculture," said Wallace. He's watching the supply chain problems with parts of the meat industry during the coronavirus.
"Hearing about how Smithfield and Tyson plants are shutting down, which has reverberations all the way down the chain, we're talking about millions of animals that are getting culled right now because there's no place for them to go, which is really just an incredible waste," he said
So community supported agriculture can be one of the answers. "Ethically, it's really comfortable to know that you're supporting a local farm and that the food takes less steps to you. That's been one of the biggest things that I've enjoyed about it, is knowing where my food comes from," says Meaghan Lawton from the Trustees.
A full share of the meat CSA costs $154 per month. A half share is $77. They'll also have a vegetable CSA as the growing season approaches.
