With COVID disruptions, there is now interest in exploring whether “reinvesting” in a more diverse portfolio of plants of different sizes would be more resilient…and perhaps offer more market and economic development opportunities for producers and communities. There have been a number of small and mid size plants who have remained competitive by carving out differentiated, niche market channels that reward…

Interest surrounding meat supply chains has increased greatly in light of 2020 disruptions related to COVID-19. The economics of processing has been generally guided by scale efficiencies, leading to a small number of plants representing a large share of total economic volume/activity. However, as is the case in many food sectors, there have been a number of small and mid size plants who have remained competitive by carving out differentiated, niche market channels that reward and capture premia in the markets that are sufficient to cover their higher cost structure. With COVID disruptions, there is now interest in exploring whether “reinvesting” in a more diverse portfolio of plants of different sizes would be more resilient…and perhaps offer more market and economic development opportunities for producers and communities.

Guest Experts:

• Dr. Jennifer Martin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, CSU Center for Meat Safety and Quality
• Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, Colorado State Senate, District 1
• Dawn Thilmany, Professor, Extension Specialist – Agribusiness, CSU Extension
• Blake Angelo, Coordinator, Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council

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