So You Want to Build a Meat Processing Plant?
Building the Workforce for the Buffalo Economy
By Chris White Eagle, CEO, Wambli Ska Society
So You Want to Build a Meat Processing Plant? is an ongoing series about building the workforce for the buffalo economy. The series begins with a simple premise: a plant is not only equipment and walls. It is people, knowledge, relationships, markets, and the ability to pass skills forward.
Q: Is the buffalo economy really just about processing meat?
A: Not even close.
That is one of the most exciting things we have learned.
Follow one buffalo through a local economy and look at how many different skills are required.
There is land stewardship and herd management. Harvesting and transportation. Butchering and processing. Food safety and inspection. Packaging and labeling. Cold storage and logistics. Retail and customer service. Cooking and food service. Marketing and communications. Accounting and inventory management. Technology and e-commerce.
Then there are hides, skulls, bones, organs, fat and tallow, each creating opportunities for additional products, businesses, skills and traditional knowledge.
Whole-animal use creates additional pathways for traditional knowledge, value-added products, entrepreneurship, and skill development.
The question becomes:
How much value can we keep circulating within our own communities?
That is very different from simply asking how many pounds of meat we can process.
Chris White Eagle
CEO, Wambli Ska Society
Sacred Storm Buffalo
SERIES: So You Want to Build a Meat Processing Plant? · Wambli Ska · Sacred Storm Buffalo