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But under a provision in the Farm Bill in Congress this year, Shepard could drive six miles for the same selling freedom plus a possible discount.
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Jason Ronmenberg cuts up beef round July 3 at Ledebuhr Meat Processing on West Sixth Street in Winona. The meat industry in trying to change current laws that restrict state-to-state shipping. (Photo by Andrew Link/Winona Daily News) |
Processors must be federally inspected to sell their meat across state lines, but a change in the federal law would give state inspected plants the same rights. Wisconsin and Minnesota are two of 28 states with their own state inspection programs. Both have standards that match or exceed federal inspections.
Butchers in both Minnesota and Wisconsin have been pressuring Congress for the last decade to change a law that some say hurts small processors, particularly those near state borders, with the loss of business just miles away.
Smaller processors say becoming a federal plant requires a lot of money and trudging through too much bureaucracy.
“The system isn’t out there to help the family farm,” Shepard said. “There isn’t a lot of power, money or interest in the small farmer.”
Although Shepard doesn’t sell outside of Minnesota right now, he said he likes knowing he can, and the inspection gives his product a United States Department of Agriculture sticker.
“If I only have to go to state plants for that, it would obviously improve accessibility, create more competition and bring the price down for the farmer,” he said.
Tony Johnson, owner of Pats Country Market in Arcadia, Wis., said the bill would benefit his business.
“We are so close to the border,” he said. “I am sure there are opportunities.”
Although Johnson is unsure how much business he might have in Minnesota, he said his business turned down requests for meat in the past after winning national awards for their summer sausage.
But for federally inspected plants, the change could result in a loss of business.
David Ledebuhr owns Ledebuhr Meat Processing in Winona, which has been federally inspected for 30 years. He said he originally opened the business to create a retail store in the building, which requires federal inspections.
The change in the law could affect his processing business as farmers find other opportunities, he said.
“Farmers we process for could find lower prices for processing or be forced to lower their prices when there are more people selling at farmer’s markets,” Ledebuhr said.
Currently, any non-amenable meat — such as buffalo and elk — processed at a federal plant requires an inspection fee per animal. State plants don’t charge the fee.
“That’s going to be the big crux on this allowing state inspected production to cross state lines,” he said. “It puts us at an unfair disadvantage.”
Ledebuhr said if state plants follow the same standards, they should be allowed to sell outside the state.
“There’s no reason they shouldn’t, but not one situation will help everybody,” he said. “Most rules are made for the Oscar Myers.”
A source at the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture said the fee to process non-amendable meats will be discussed and a possible cost share program will most likely be created to eliminate the loophole.
Mark Dopp, senior vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the American Meat Institute, said he is also concerned about the bill affecting federal plants.
“We will not oppose legislation that allows state inspected meats to ship interstate so long as those states have to meet the same requirements that the federal do,” he said. “We think it’s important there be a level playing field and make sure the small federally inspected plants are not put at a disadvantage.”
Dopp said there are about 120 federally inspected plants in Minnesota, most of which are small or very small. There are about 5,000 such federal plants in the nation.
He denied that there is too much bureaucracy in the current process to become federally inspected.
“There’s nothing to prevent a plant from becoming federally inspected and apparently it’s not too difficult for 5,000 plants,” Dopp said. “If 5,000 can do it, why can’t everyone else? Is it that they can’t or they don’t want to?”
Contact Emily Kaiser at (507) 453-3541 or ekaiser@winonadailynews.com.
a.d. wrote on Jul 18, 2007 5:06 PM: