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Minnesota high school, college team up on meat processing trailer

HUTCHINSON, Minn. — A Minnesota high school was one of the big winners in a round of grants to promote meat processing education in the state.

Paige Vander Werff, agriculture teacher at Lac qui Parle Valley and the school’s FFA advisor, would like to “share the wealth.”

Paige LQP.JPG — Paige Vander Werff, ag teacher and FFA adviser for Lac qui Parle Valley High School, chats with visitors to the school’s meat processing trailer on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Hutchinson, Minnesota. The high school partnered with Ridgewater College on the trailer.

Lac qui Parle Valley

was awarded a $70,000 grant to build a mobile meat processing trailer and collaborate with

Ridgewater College

to develop a curriculum for meat processing classes.

The trailer made its public debut on Oct. 13, at Ridgewater’s Hutchinson campus, where students could get a taste of meat processing, with hands-on demonstrations on stuffing sausage casings, making the links and packaging the final product.

Meat Truck.JPG — The mobile meat processing trailer that is a partnership of Laq qui Parle Valley High School and Ridgewater College was part of an event for students at Ridgewater’s Hutchinson, Minnesota, campus on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.

Vander Werff has 24 students signed up for a spring semester class using the trailer, but the school plans to make it available to other Minnesota schools.

“Next year, our plan is to be able to rent it out to schools for quarters so that we can share the wealth,” Vander Werff said. “I mean, this is an amazing opportunity so we want to be able to have others use it when we only use it for one class, or two classes a year.

“And then different events like this, that we will take it to show people what meat processing is, what it can entail, and try to show the kids what a possibility is for after school,” she continued.

The $70,000 grant was the largest of nine grants to high schools through its Meat Education and Training (MEAT) grant program. The program gave out $350,000 in one-time grants in 2023.

The grants, announced in July, also included two schools that are neighbors to each other — Ashby and West Central Area — combining on a meat processing trailer. Their combined grants were just over $70,000 and their trailer should be ready in the spring.

Vander Werff said the school realized there was no space in its existing buildings for a meat lab, so the trailer was a way around that.

“We’re going to use it in our last quarter of school,” Vander Werff said. “So we have a block schedule, so the kids will have 100 minutes to come in and basically use this trailer during that time of the day.”

The partnership with Ridgewater means students can qualify for credits at the Willmar-based college, which is now in its second year of

offering a meat processing program.

Ridgewater is one of a few different meat-cutting programs that have started up in the upper Midwest to help fill a need for skilled labor and provide more resiliency in the meat processing industry.

Sophia Thommes of Ridgewater College shows students how a sausage casing gets filled with sausage on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Ridgewater’s Hutchinson, Minnesota, campus.

Sophia Thommes is the meat cutting instructor at Ridgewater.

The school offers an 18-credit one semester course for beginning meat processing in the fall, with classes online along with time at meat processors or butcher shops. It has added another 18-credit course in the spring for an advanced certificate.

Students packaged and labeled brats in the meat processing trailer at Hutchinson, Minnesota, on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.

“That’s when we get to do the fun stuff, right? So we get to do things like sausage making, product creation and recipe creation, as well as smoking and kind of learning all of that science and theory behind that, and how to then to do that and make a good product.”
There also is carcass and meat animal evaluation.

“So that student could possibly look at an animal on the hook and say that should probably have a yield grade or quality grade of X,” Thommes said.

There’s also basics on ag economics and record-keeping and tracking.

The trailer also can be used at events like the one in Hutchinson. Called “Ignite,” it offered high school students the chance to check out different programs offered by the college and how they might translate into a career.

A steady stream of students filtered through the trailer.

“So they’re stuffing three different types of sausages, they’re all brat’s just three different flavors. So one station is actually stuffing, putting casings on, while the others are linking and weighing out, and then the other station is packaging,” Thommes said. “Just to kind of give a little spiel on the whole process of sausage making.”

Tristan Stegeman of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City High School watches as Sophia Thommes of Ridgewater College gets a sausage casing ready for stuffing on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Ridgewater’s Hutchinson, Minnesota, campus.

The trailer has a bandsaw to cut any bone-in meats, a vacuum sealer, and is equipped to cook and smoke meats. And, of course, there are sinks for cleanup.

Lac qui Parle Valley High School is near Madison, Minnesota, about an hour west of Ridgewater’s main campus in Willmar.

Vander Werff said Thommes may be able to go to the high school to team teach some of the classes there.

“Hopefully we can really grow the technical skills that they will benefit from before they leave us,” Vander Werff said.

2023 Meat Education and Training (MEAT) grant recipients from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture

Ashby Public School, $41,296.58
Partner with West Central Area Schools and West Central Initiative to teach meat processing through the purchase of equipment for a meat processing mobile trailer.

Bertha-Hewitt Schools, $50,000
Renovate an existing space to accommodate a walk-in cooler as well as upgraded sinks to allow for proper cleaning of equipment and ensure proper food and student safety.

Byron High School $27,175.47
Build upon current programming by developing and adding a meat processing course with local processing partners.

Lac qui Parle Valley High School, $70,000
Build a mobile meat processing trailer and collaborate with Ridgewater College to develop a curriculum for meat processing classes.

Morris Area High School, $5,037.80
Expand the current Ag Processing course to further provide hands-on experiences and in-depth learning about meat cutting and processing, and provide a culinary experience through Family Consumer Sciences classes by preparing the meat in different ways.

Nicollet Public School, $60,000
Utilize the National Food Science Safety and Processing Curriculum (CASE) to impact student career readiness in meat science and processing.

ROCORI Public Schools, $39,527.16
Develop two classes: one focused on meat science and food safety and the second about further processing, safety, and cultural differences.

Sibley East Public Schools, $21,962.99
Update an old Family and Consumer Sciences lab to become a meat cutting lab and develop a pathway in which students will build upon skills every year in grades 8-12, culminating in a work-based capstone.

West Central Area Schools, $35,000
Further support the purchase of a meat processing mobile trailer and provide up to 100 hours of hands-on training for one agriculture instructor at a local butcher shop.

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Midwest soybeans promoted at New York City event

AG Week

Soybean buyers, the grower-members of the organizations who promote the crop and the companies that sell the commodity gathered in New York City in late August at Soy Connext.

About 40 commodity organizations and companies, including Mankato, Minnesota-based

Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance,

Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council,

South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, North Dakota Soy Council and Northern Soy Marketing, attended the global summit held Aug. 21-Aug. 23, 2023.

Soy Connext hosts educational seminars for buyers, and soybean businesses and organizations staff booths that have on hand educational material about the commodity.

Most importantly, the event gives soybean buyers, commodity organization members, and companies an opportunity to talk to one another.

Patrick OLeary.jpg — Patrick O’Leary, Northern Soy Marketing chairman Contributed photo

Patrick O’Leary, a Benson, Minnesota, farmer and Northern Soy Marketing board chair, had conversations with buyers from Bangladesh and Indonesia during the first morning of the first full day of the conference, he said on Aug. 22, 2023.

Northern Soy Marketing is a farmer-led board formed by the soybean checkoff boards of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Soybean buyers from a total of 49 countries attended Soy Connext, O’Leary said.

“It’s really about building relationships,”he said, “We talk a lot about our farms and soybean quality.”

The buyers appreciate hearing the perspectives of the farmers who grow the crop, O’Leary said.

“I think buyers are always excited because they have a lot of interest in what’s going on; what does the crop look like?” he said.

Production practices, such as sustainability and growing GMO vs. non-GMO crops also generate discussions between farmers and buyers, O’Leary said.

One of the major topics of interest is export channels and transporting soybeans via the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system.

“There’s a lot of talk about shipping routes,” O’Leary said.

By
Ann Bailey

Ann is a journalism veteran with nearly 40 years of reporting and editing experiences on a variety of topics including agriculture and business. Story ideas or questions can be sent to Ann by email at: abailey@agweek.com or phone at: 218-779-8093.

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Northarvest Bean Growers Association provides free beans at Moorhead Farmers Market

AG Week

Northarvest Bean Growers Association this summer is trying out a new way to promote

dry edible beans

— by handing them out at a farmers market.

Getting beans into the hands of people — and especially young people — is a big focus for Northarvest Bean Growers Association Finance Director Jennifer Hansen.

Hansen has played a role in other Northarvest projects, including Living Ag Classroom and the Family Wellness Partnership, that highlight the value of dry edible beans as a low-cost protein source.

The people of “the Midwest, historically, aren’t bean eaters,” Hansen said. “The way to get more people to eat beans is to reach them when they’re young.”

By getting school-age children interested in trying beans and getting their parents on board, it can start a lifelong habit of cooking with and eating beans.

Northarvest’s main food aid project this year has been supporting Convoy of Hope. Northarvest Bean Growers Association and Central Valley Bean Co-op in Buxton, North Dakota, in the fall of 2022 partnered with Convoy of Hope, a faith-based non-profit humanitarian organization based in Springfield, Missouri, to provide food aid to children in Guatemala and Honduras in the form of 60,000 meals from pinto beans.

When the Convoy of Hope project came in under projected budget, Hansen started brainstorming how to best allocate the remaining food aid funds to get more beans on local plates. She came up with the idea of distributing beans at the Moorhead Farmers Market.

A package of black beans, with the words, "Black Beans! 16 oz" — Northarvest Bean Growers Association all summer will be giving out 1-pound packages of dry edible beans, including the black beans shown here, at the Moorhead Farmers Market on June 13, 2023.

Processor Archer Daniels Midland pitched in with the donation of 300 pounds of beans, which Hansen repackaged into 1-pound containers. And every Tuesday, she will be at the Moorhead Farmers Market, handing out free beans to any takers, along with cooking information and recipes.

The first Moorhead Farmers Market was on June 6, and Hansen said it was a successful venture.

“It was wonderful to talk to people about beans,” she said. “Most people were very positive.”

A table of information about beans — Along with giving out dry edible beans at the Moorhead Farmers Market, Northarvest Bean Growers Association also is providing cooking tips and recipes, as well as stickers for children.

Some people shared recipes, and one woman even said she had a pot of beans simmering on the stove at home as they spoke.

Recipe cards, stickers with QR codes leading to websites with more information and magnets with bean information — including how long to cook beans in a pressure cooker — accompanied the packages of beans that were given out. Putting out cooking information with the beans is vital, as cooking beans remains “a big roadblock for a lot of people,” Hansen said.

To attract families, Hansen had stickers for the kids.

Speaking to people at the farmers market also provided Hansen a way to explain that dry edible beans are a local food.

“It was fun to tell people how many beans Minnesota and North Dakota produce,” she said. “A lot of people didn’t know that. A couple people did.”

The Moorhead Farmers Market is held weekly on Tuesdays from June 6 to Sept. 26, excluding July 4, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Hjemkomst Center parking lot, at 202 First Avenue North in Moorhead, Minnesota. The market features fresh produce, pet supplies, flowers, honey, hand-crafted items, salsas, spices, baked goods and more. The Moorhead Farmers Market accepts SNAP benefits and offers the Power of Produce Club, a program of the Farmers Market Coalition which teaches kids to engage in their local food systems. For more information on the market, visit moorheadparks.com.

By
Jenny Schlecht

Jenny Schlecht is the director of ag content for Agweek and serves as editor of Agweek, Sugarbeet Grower and BeanGrower. She lives on a farm and ranch near Medina, North Dakota, with her husband and two daughters. You can reach her at jschlecht@agweek.com or 701-595-0425.

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Meet the Photographer Turned Seafood Restaurateur Dedicated to Conservation

Aquaculture, Food & Drink, Food & Lifestyle, Modern Farmer, MTMF

Photographer Andrea Tese was always looking for a hook to promote ocean conservancy. Growing up on the North Fork of Long Island, she spent her summers fishing for snapper off a bridge with her grandfather. Tese shared his passion for the ocean. “Ever since I can remember, all I wanted was to be in the water. I would live for family trips to the Caribbean where I got to explore multicolored bustling reefs. Now, they are blanched ghost towns.” Tese has seen the disappearance and drastic shifts across the ocean, and especially close to home. The once-famous Peconic Bay scallops have been nearly decimated in recent years.

As a photographer, Tese has tried to document the changing ocean life, both to preserve a memory of what once was and to bring attention to its rapid decline. In December 2019, after years of trial and error, she finally perfected an innovative 8×10 sheet film camera, designed to take underwater photographs of the Channel Islands’ kelp forests. Tese wanted a unique way to tell the story of the plight of the integral kelp forests. Then, the pandemic struck, the dive boats were docked and her visual storytelling was put on indefinite hold.

That’s when Tese decided to spread her message of ocean conservation another way: through a seafood restaurant.

Chef Cheo Avila at Minnow. Photography by Michelle Colman.

Yes, it seems unorthodox or even counter-intuitive at first glance, but Tese is approaching the foodservice industry with resolve to shake things up. Minnow will only serve responsibly line or trap caught seasonably available seafood. The restaurant’s motto is: Local. Line caught. Organic. Despite being told by “almost everyone” that her business model is impossible (mostly due to cost and sourcing), Tese is determined to prove them all wrong. “Absolutely no nets, no draggers, trawlers, gill or seine nets,” she vows. “And, absolutely no bykill.”

“Bykill” or “bycatch” are terms used for animals accidentally caught in fishing gear. Nets do not discriminate. Whatever is not intended to be caught is discarded. It is estimated that the U.S. discards two billion pounds of bycatch a year. According to Gen V, “About 40 percent of fish caught worldwide are captured unintentionally and are either thrown back dying or left to die on the boat.” Bycatch can include whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sea birds, coral and sharks. The negative effects of bycatch go far beyond the unnecessary deaths of unintentional catches, disrupting the entire marine ecosystem.

The difficulties of only serving locally sourced, responsibly caught seafood extend beyond trying to find local fishermen in line with Minnow’s mission. Tese continues her extensive research of the fishermen’s methods and also takes into consideration where the fish are processed.

Cognizant of the locals’ way of life, Tese asks detailed questions, such as what kind of lines are used to catch which fish? “Certain fish caught on long lines can be bad depending on where those lines are so they don’t catch the wrong animals,” says Tese.“Golden tilefish can only be caught on long lines, but those lines are very deep down so no other marine animals get caught on them.”

Similarly, she says, the majority of seafood processing plants in the country have closed due to the economic development potential of waterfront property and cheaper offshore options. Even if consumers think they are getting “local” fish, that fish is often frozen, shipped to China for processing, thawed, processed, refrozen and returned. “And,” says Tese, “who is to say that you even get the same fish back?”

Rather than take her chances with foreign processors, Tese is determined to stick with local seafood, and she is pleased with the diversity of options. Her Mediterranean-inspired menu will include golden tilefish, black sea bass, which is plentiful around the North Fork, porgy and raw bar items such as whelks, local lobsters, squid and blue claw crabs, as well as local produce and wine.

Amanda Akran curated the bar and cocktail menu for Minnow. Photography by Michelle Colman.

Beyond the sustainable menu, Tese aims to use only reusable or returnable glass to-go containers, mismatched thrifted tableware sets and vintage decor reworked by Lumber & Salt from its local salvage yard.

Tese hopes to host fundraising events and talks to benefit her favorite conservancy nonprofits, such as Oceana and Sea Shepherd, at least twice a year. “That is the way I’ll educate people.” However, she has no intention of being heavy handed with her conservation message, as she believes the proof is in the pudding. “If I can prove the model works, it will speak for itself.”

Minnow opened recently on Memorial Day weekend in the waterfront town of New Suffolk.

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Author: Michelle Colman

$13.6M grant boosts technical assistance with cover crops | AGDAILY

AG Daily

Cover crops, with their ability to reduce erosion and promote soil health often come alongside increasing incentive programs. Farmers adopting cover crops through Farmers for Soil Health can look forward to enhanced technical assistance through a new grant.

The recent $13.6 million grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation mark a significant step forward for farmers who plan to enroll in the program later this year. The grants, a key component of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $95 million Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, will offer personal, on-the-ground technical support to farmers in 19 states.

Farmers for Soil Health is a collaboration between the National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Board, and United Soybean Board with the goal to advance conservation practices to improve soil health across the U.S., including doubling cover crop acres in the U.S. to 30 million acres by 2030.

“U.S. farmers are dedicated to implementing sustainable practices that will not only feed and fuel a growing population but also protect our environment,” said Jack Cornell, director of sustainable supply for the United Soybean Board. “Adopting cover crops is one way farmers can continue to pursue best management practices. These grants provide technical assistance from crop advisors familiar with each state’s agronomic and production environment. The advisors will help farmers select cover crops that offer the most soil health benefits, minimize issues during planting and add value to their overall production efforts.”

Regionally based technical assistance is important as farmers work toward economic and long-term success. The grants ensure that the technical assistance providers are trusted partners that have established relationships with farmers.

“We are excited to offer this opportunity to our state partners and affiliated organizations,” said Nathan Fields, National Corn Growers Association vice president of production and sustainability. “We recognize that the success of Farmers for Soil Health will be determined by these partners who work tirelessly on the front lines and have already earned the trust and support of their local farming communities. It’s a privilege to provide them with the resources they need to carry out this important work.”

Grantees will also help farmers enroll in a digital platform facilitating the marketing of crops to end users interested in sustainably produced corn and soybeans.

$13.6M grant boosts technical assistance with cover crops | AGDAILY

AG Daily

Grantees will also help farmers enroll in a digital platform facilitating the marketing of crops to end users interested in sustainably produced corn and soybeans.