So You Want to Build a Meat Processing Plant?
Building the Workforce for the Buffalo Economy
By Chris White Eagle, CEO, Wambli Ska Society
For more than twenty years, I have worked as a butcher, including a decade managing a buffalo processing plant. Over those years, I have learned that building a successful meat processing operation isn't primarily about the building.
It's about people.
It's about developing knowledge, creating markets, building relationships, learning how to adapt, and making sure the next generation knows more than we did when we started.
Across Indian Country, Tribal Nations and Native organizations are rebuilding food systems and reconnecting buffalo, land, people, culture, workforce, and economy.
That creates an important question:
What kind of workforce do we need to build for the buffalo economy that is emerging?
And perhaps an even bigger one:
What if we aren't simply rebuilding an old economy? What if we are preparing our people for the return of a stronger, more local economy?
Q: So you want to build a meat processing plant. Where should you begin?
A: Begin with your people.
Before you decide how large the cutting room should be, ask who is going to work in it.
Who will harvest the animals? Who will break carcasses? Who will learn the cuts? Who will package the meat? Who will learn sanitation and food safety? Who will maintain the equipment? Who will manage inventory? Who will sell the products? Who will keep the books? Who will build relationships with producers and customers?
And most importantly:
Who is teaching the next person?
A processing plant can create an entire ecosystem of occupations. But that only happens when workforce development is built into the business from the beginning.
Q: What if we don't already have experienced workers?
A: Then you grow them.
That is one of the greatest opportunities in front of Indian Country.
We can build internships, apprenticeships, mentorships and leadership-development pathways directly into our businesses.
Someone might begin packaging meat and become interested in cutting. An apprentice butcher might become a journeyman. A butcher might become a mentor. A mentor might become a supervisor. A supervisor might eventually operate a plant. And another young person begins behind them.
That is how a job becomes a workforce, and a workforce becomes an economy.
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