Meet Chris Harmon, the Executive Director of CADE, The Center for Agricultural Development & Entrepreneurship in New York State. CADE is a non-profit organization working to help build the necessary infrastructure and local food systems so that farmers can survive and thrive in upstate New York. I met with Chris to talk about the future of farming in my home state, and how they see new opportunities with the grass-fed movement.

More and more people are interested in knowing where their food comes from. And with local grass-fed meat in high demand along the East Coast, many farmers are looking towards repurposing their unused dairy land to raise animals. But to feed this demand, farmers need more local USDA-approved slaughterhouses. Slaughterhouses, with skilled butchers, that can help farmers make extra income off of their new crop of pasture-raised animals. And right now, there aren’t nearly enough of them. Therefore, building more meat processing plants is a necessary step to help revitalize a dying farming industry upstate, a step that CADE is using all its resources to grow.

All in all, I hope you learn about the struggles that farmers face to help feed us well, and I hope you become more interested in supporting farmers in our area. This is Part 1 of a 2-part series on artisan slaughterhouses. Stay tuned for the next episode where I’ll take you through the artisan slaughter process, step by step, to tell the story of “transparency”.

Thanks for watching food. curated.! Happy Eating!