The Mobile Poultry Slaughterhouse Page 9

  Pinterest

  Best described as an online pinboard, Pinterest allows you to share favorite photographs, recipes, books, and the like, using images. Like Facebook, Pinterest is image-driven but more so. Posting photos of your farm, your chicken, your flock, your guest speakers, or happy faces eating your chicken generates interest, followers, and traffic. You can also follow organizations that are of interest to you, such as:

  Stone Barns Center — supports young farmers

  Sustainable Table — follow them for the Eat Well Guide

  Instagram

  This image-driven social media site makes any photo you take look cooler and better. Similar to Pinterest, you “follow” people or people follow you. There’s no asking to be friends as there is on a personal Facebook page.

  Staying in the Loop

  There are many ways to keep your program, and the related issues, in the public eye. Here are a few examples.

  Create a Google News Alert about your poultry program, mobile poultry slaughterhouse, humane slaughter — or your farm and your product, so you can know all the good things people are saying about you!

  Expand Your Reach but Stay Grounded

  “I might never have found my way to Polyface Farm if Joel Salatin hadn’t refused to FedEx me one of his chickens.”

  — Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma

  When Michael Pollan, the food journalist, contacted Joel Salatin, a diversified farmer in Virginia, he asked Joel to FedEx some chicken to him. Joel declined, stating that in alignment with his principles he won’t ship his food. Mr. Pollan was welcome to come to Polyface Farm, however, and buy it there himself. So began a historic relationship that would help drive and shape the local food revolution.

  When you sell your chicken to a restaurant, list it online on a site called Real Time Farms. It’s a crowd-sourced (information supplied by the public) national guide to farms, farmers’ markets, and eateries. You sign up for free and list your farm or your restaurant. Add photos.

  List what you do in free online local-food guides like the Eat Well Guide (www.eatwellguide.org).

  Use social media to promote educational events, such as outside speakers or films, and generate an audience.

  Share photographs of your activities on your Facebook page. If you have a local farm-to-school program, for example, go and talk to kids who may never get a chance to visit a farm. Bring the farm to the students. Or tweet what you’re doing to show others what’s going on and how they can get involved. To find a farm-based education center, check out the Farm-Based Education Association (see Resources).

  The winter months are a perfect time to participate in and develop your food community, especially in your school system.

  Local Grocer + Local Farmer = The True Cost of Food

  On May 25, 2011, Jefferson walked into Cronig’s Market to deliver a batch of his whole, freshly killed pastured chickens. Together he and Greg Pachio, the butcher, determined a wholesale price. Jefferson went on his way, and the grocery had its first batch of island grown, permitted chickens.

  The plump, rosy pink chickens had everything over flaccid, gray-white factory-raised birds: taste, freshness, and price. Although Jefferson’s birds were significantly more expensive, they’d lived a chicken-life and their death was taken seriously and with care. The animals contributed, nurturing the pasture while alive — pooping, pecking, and scratching — and afterward, with blood, feathers, and bones. The government had given its seal of approval to the safety and cleanliness of the process and the food. The farmer was paid directly, and these monetary transactions circulated within a short three-mile radius. And the owner of Cronig’s, Steve Bernier, had a product that reflected his philosophy: Buy local and sell good food.

  It took many pieces of this Jenga puzzle to stack up, each balanced precipitously on the next, so that those birds could reach the meat counter. The last and final piece, though, was still in question. Just because the local chicken made it to the grocer, would customers buy it? The goal of the poultry program was always for the farmer to access all markets: from farmstands to farmers’ markets, restaurants to caterers, grocers to even schools. Local meat was not to be restricted to one or the other market, limiting a farmer’s ability to make money.

  What is the real price of non-agribusiness chicken and would it sell? Cronig’s island-grown whole chicken cost $6.99/lb. Compare this to the least expensive whole chickens at $1.59/lb., organic at $2.89/lb., and “all natural air chilled” at $4.69/lb.

  “To equate the chickens that I raise with the other chickens in the supermarket — it’s just not the same thing,” responds Jefferson. “My chickens spend more than half of their lives living on the grass, breathing fresh air. And you can taste that. I do everything that I can to minimize the stresses in their lives. The other birds that you can buy in the supermarket are based off of overall efficiencies. And those efficiencies are based off price point. My efficiency is based on an ethical system.”

  Local chicken has a marketing edge in these days of meat recalls. Traceable, transparent, independent, ethically raised, humane, environmentally responsible, safe, fair-wage food has a cost and it is real. But in the end, what a worthwhile, tasty, tasty chicken, it truly is. (See recipes, pages 110–125.)

  Waste Not, Want Not

  Birds raised on pasture add their own natural goodness to the soil. They are humanely slaughtered and processed on the farm to create good, safe food. The water and bird bits — inedibles such as feathers, blood, and offal — are collected and added to the compost. All these activities when managed properly can improve the soil’s health, save money on waste disposal, and close the nutrient cycle. Nothing is wasted.

  Public Health and Backyard Growers

  Boards of health have a problem. It’s the growing number of people keeping chickens either for eggs or for broilers. Backyard growers are also raising birds in areas that are not traditionally farmed or even zoned “agricultural.” Zoning battles are underway across the country.

  The challenge for boards of health is how to address safe slaughter in all these tiny “custom” flocks that are meant only for private consumption, in contrast to birds that enter the food supply by sale. Urban egg farmers may not have planned for when their hens aren’t making cackleberries anymore. The best agricultural practices must be met whether you are raising three birds or thousands.

  Chickens will attract pests and predators. Be a good farmer even when you live in town. Attend a Poultry Day (page 66). Go to your local agricultural department, read books, and talk to other growers and farmers.

  Most important, plan ahead. When you order your broilers, also schedule their one very bad day. If you wait until the day before, expecting the Crew to show up and they can’t, and your birds keep getting bigger and bigger, you’re endangering the birds’ health and well-being. The job can be done with a traffic cone and a pot of hot water, but it’s not much fun.

  Chapter 6

  The Path to a Permit

  Not all Cease and Desist letters are alike; some are sent simply to scare the farmer while the agency has no intention of following with an enforcement action. Other times the agency fully intends to take action if the farmer continues to carry on the conduct warned about.

  — Pete Kennedy, Esq., Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

  To begin you must identify the regulatory agency that licenses the slaughter and processing of poultry in your state. Most likely, one agency issues the permit but other agencies will have a stakeholding interest.

  For example, in Massachusetts three agencies have an interest and a regulatory stake: the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The actual permit application and the license are handled by the DPH — it holds the keys to the car. MDAR cares about animal health, DEP about water. MDAR and DEP both share composting concerns.

  Read and understand the regulati
ons and any exemptions they include. This information should be accessible online. If not, you may have to request a copy of the regulations from the respective agency or go and get them in person.

  Locate and print the permit application. Like the regulations, the permit application should be online. If not, request a copy of the permit application or go get one.

  Apply for the permit, to the best of your ability. It is highly unlikely that your state has a specific permit for mobile slaughter units. If it does, you’re one of the lucky ones! The permit will most likely be applicable to brick-and-mortar facilities and thousands (if not millions) of birds.

  Suggestion: Include a letter describing your organization or business plan and the scope and goal of your poultry program, and explain that you are looking for license to slaughter and process poultry for commercial sale, not custom sale. (See pages 88–89 for an example.)

  Units vs. Trailers: The Language of Mobile Slaughter

  In the current argot the word “unit” is usually attached to mobile slaughter — as in a Mobile Slaughter Unit (MSU) for either four-leggeds or poultry. According to the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, at this writing there are Mobile Poultry Processing Units in California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington. A unit, however, is significantly different from a mobile processing trailer (MPPT).

  In a unit, the kill floor and quality control areas of a slaughterhouse are reproduced on the back of a large walk-on trailer. The equipment is fixed into place — bolted onto a floor and covered by a pop-up tent or roof. The processing personnel enter and work on the unit. Everything takes place on the trailer bed, from killing to dressing.

  The MPPT is not a unit. The mobile poultry processing trailer is a complete set of equipment; each piece remains free of the others. It is mobile by virtue of its trailer, which requires only a small truck to tow it. The work of slaughtering and processing takes place literally on the farm — on the ground where each piece of equipment is rolled off the trailer, set up, used, cleaned, and then rolled back on again. Collectively it is referred to here as an MPPT.

  Permit Catch-22s

  If IGI applied for a permit, it meant that we accepted the state’s view that mobile slaughtering was subject to the same regulations as a brick-and-mortar facility. But this failed to reflect two fundamental realities of small-scale ag:

  There are a relatively small number of birds, if any at all, being raised in a local agricultural community.

  In some cases, small-scale mobile processing is the only way to jump-start poultry production and must be affordable and managed with the utmost care, preferably by a trained crew.

  The DPH’s permit was for a building; our trailer moved. The sheer volume of animals the permit considered was way beyond our reach and probably would never reflect, even with considerable growth, the number of animals any one processor would slaughter within our geographical area. The sales figures for one grower on the permit used the quantity of 10 million as a demarcation.

  Nevertheless, we needed the Department of Public Health to help guide us toward food safety. Not keep us out or tell us we couldn’t. No one wanted anyone to get sick; besides, a bad chicken meal is bad marketing for a farmer. IGI’s bar was always set higher than any slaughterhouse’s (although in view of the number of abuses of animals, people, and food that come from slaughterhouses today, one could argue that that was no standard at all). But we always strove for highest quality of animal welfare, worker safety, and food safety, and we did it, quite literally, in complete transparency.

  No Shortage of Advice

  I shared this situation with some colleagues in the niche meat markets. One fellow told me, “Don’t even apply, because once you do, you’ve bought into their regulations. Keep doing what you’re doing until they stop you.” That was uncomfortable advice to hear, because that strategy would have thrown the farmers under the bus when and if we were shut down.

  Another colleague told me that we had to apply because it was the only way to go, “and if you don’t you’ll be held liable.” Liable for what, I was never sure. Liable for committing chicken death? Another advised me to apply but not to apply as IGI; apply as me. But the problem was it wasn’t me. I was the executive director of a nonprofit that never took ownership of the birds or the food. I didn’t own the MPPT; IGI did.

  There were also people who advised me: “Don’t go for any permits — go underground.” But underground is the worst way to run a program. Underground is illegal. Underground is no business model. We were a nonprofit working to change things and that meant confronting the system, working the exemptions, not dodging the regulations. Dealing in black-market meat opens a Pandora’s box of things that shouldn’t happen to animal, land, food, or man.

  I eventually contacted the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who thankfully always pick up their phone. Although they wanted to help, they weren’t sure what to do either and directed me back to where I started — the state.

  Working Within

  No matter how odd or onerous the system was, the only strategy was to work within it, and that meant working the margins. The exemptions or the gray areas in regulations were opportunities. Local food ought not to become a 21st-century version of The Jungle (see page 33). If farmers and eaters promote subterfuge, there will never be any real dialogue, trust, or change in the system.

  That said, however, there were days when the intimidation, pressure, and seemingly shifting rules of the playing fields among local and state agencies, regulators, nonprofits, farmers, funding, and public relations made me want to throw up my hands, reach for the box of chocolates and the remote control, and sit on the couch all day. But that really wasn’t an option either.

  The goal in developing any kind of sustainable agriculture that includes local or regional poultry/meat production is that the regulatory infrastructure should be inclusive, responsive, and reflect the needs of all farmers who want to raise animals and the consumers who want to eat them. Thus transparency, as uncomfortable as it is at times, is the only option. Being straightforward and not intimidated by the regulators is the only road to respect and trust on both sides of the food — the farmer and the regulator. And all that eventually translates into an authentic, reliable, safe, and tasty chicken dinner.

  We Raise Permit #417’s Flag

  It took two or three tries to get through the permitting process. The second time around, Richard Andre from Cleveland Farm was on board. Richard used to wear suits with ties, and he’s lived in places like London and Amsterdam. He moved to Martha’s Vineyard with his wife and son to change his life, and change he did.

  Richard understands spreadsheets and numbers. He appeared to have memorized the regulations and the exemptions verbatim. It was Richard who defended IGI’s position to DPH face to face and fought hard for the farmers. Traveling to Boston, he sat in sterile conference rooms, drank tepid brown liquid passed off as coffee in disposable cups, and stood his ground. Always respectful, always persistent.

  “For the DPH to get what they wanted,” Richard said, “they had to have the farmers trust them. You can’t beat trust into farmers. You have to gain it. So I asked the DPH, what outcome do you want? Because if you keep penalizing or intimidating farmers, you are going to get the opposite result of what you want. More farmers are going to sell underground chicken than are going to be upfront and transparent about it. It took the DPH a while to get that. But once they did, it was a watershed moment.”

  With Richard shepherding the MPPT as if he were a Border Collie–bulldog cross, IGI was finally granted Permit #417 by the Department of Public Health in the spring of 2010 under its pilot poultry program. IGI paid the $225 fee, and under #417’s umbrella seven Vineyard farms in three different towns — The GOOD Farm, Cleveland Farm, North Tabor Farm, Morning Glory Farm, Flat Point, Northern Pines Farm, and the Whiting Farm —were allowed to process, market, and sell their chickens to the public via farmers’ markets, re
staurants, farmstands, and boardinghouses, but not yet in grocery stores.

  Needless to say, it was a sweet victory. Even though we still hadn’t obtained permission for farmers to sell at grocery stores, we were making progress. It was one step at time, and this proved a useful and successful strategy in negotiating with the state. The permit was the breakthrough that changed everything for farmers and for eaters.

  In reciprocity, IGI negotiated that the farmers under the #417 umbrella had to register with the regional USDA office in Albany, NY, which included estimating how many birds they expected to process in one year. Under the USDA there are two cutoff points, one at 1,000 birds and another at 20,000 birds. At the time, all the farmers under IGI’s permit #417 were below the 1,000-bird exemption level.

  The farmers also agreed to sticker their birds with the USDA exemption number, IGI’s permit number, the name of the farm, the location, the date, and safe handling instructions. Should the USDA want to drop in and check their accounting of bird totals, it could.

  With Jefferson Munroe taking up leadership and management of the day-to-day MPPT logistics, IGI developed a Google calendar for the state and local boards of health, so they could visit any slaughter event any time they wanted to. Every farm that slaughtered commercially was visited at least once by a state inspector, and recommendations were made to each individual grower for improvements.