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OVERVIEW OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Applicants must be from the Western SARE region, and most funded activities should take place within.
WSARE represents: Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Federated
States of Micronesia, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Marianas Islands, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming.

Overview

Funding is available to conduct multi-faceted trainings and networking projects for people and businesses
in local/regional meat systems. Enterprises will mostly be small- and mid-scale. Deliverables may include
trainings, intern/apprentice placements, networking and educational conferences, and multi-media
educational products that address the following:
1. Health and safety of persons involved in the food and farm system
2. Well-being of animals
3. Increase employment opportunities in agriculture

Goals of Funding

  1. Support the development of training opportunities and educational materials needed in meat and poultry
    processing across the West. Information will be relevant to the needs of small- or medium-scale farmers
    and ranchers, processors, and allied support businesses/services, historically underserved individuals
    and communities, and production systems that other animal operations that are important to diverse
    cultures.
  2. Address demand from niche markets like small flocks/herds, mobile processing units, on-site
    processing, farm-to-fork eateries/caterers and small/alternative grocers including those that are
    maintained by historically underserved producers and communities.

Funding Categories

Deliverables are designed to be inclusive of all meat supply chain partners; however, training opportunities,
in-person meetings, and educational products will be most applicable to small- and mid-scale businesses
active within local/regional meat supply chains. The following three categories represent topics/subtopics
identified by stakeholders and meat professionals as important for trainings/courses, presentations, and
educational products in the Western Region.

1. Harvest, cutting, packaging, and further processing

  • Humane handling and harvest
  • Basic multi-specie cutting
  • Cooling, aging and product quality
  • Packaging – how and why
  • Whole muscle
  • Fresh sausage
  • Basic further processed meats
  • Thermal processing and smoking
  • Fine chopped – Hot dogs, Weiswurst, etc.
  • Cooked coarse ground sausage – Polish Kielbasa, etc.
  • Specialty further processed meats and aged products

2. Regulations, equipment, labeling, and packaging

  • HACCP and food safety
  • Deeper look at prerequisite programs
  • Processing equipment (scale and efficiency)
  • Labeling rules and approvals
  • Packaging options and issues

3. Business and other plant issues

  • Cost of production
  • Labor recruitment, retention and training
  • Business planning
  • Accessing capital
  • Pricing
  • Value proposition and marketing
  • Marketing of product
  • Equipment
  • Business continuity, resilience, and succession
  • Waste management – by-products

Examples of Products and Activities

Grant funding shall be used to offset educational expenses, curriculum development, and training costs.
Infrastructure, processing equipment and food/hospitality costs are not eligible for reimbursement. A
variety of products and endeavors may be supported including, but not limited to:

  • Hands-on or classroom-based short courses/trainings
  • Facility fees
  • Supplies
  • External/guest instructor fees
  • Limited travel support
  • Other
  • Virtual or multi-media educational events
  • Multi-media educational products
  • Limited travel support for applicants and stakeholders for professional and networking conference
    attendance
  • Support of specific needs within professional and networking conferences or events

Ranges of Awards

Scholarships up to $4,000 are available for individuals or processor support requests. Up to $4,000 available
for requests supporting custom and public workshop development. When applying, you will be asked to
submit a program budget. If your event is selected for funding, negotiations may take place to consolidate
expenses.

When to Submit

Funding applications must be submitted at least 2 months (you may inquire about shorter-term needs) prior
to the date of the proposed training activity. Applications must be approved before training begins.

How Applications Are Evaluated

Funding is not guaranteed. In order to distribute equitable funding across the Western region, the review
team will monitor the number of requests within each funding category. Submissions from previous
awardees or multiple submissions may be waitlisted or denied.

Contacts

Montana State University Meat Science is serving as the steward of this funding opportunity.

Jane Ann Boles, Ph.D.
Meat Scientist
Montana State University
(406) 994-7352
jboles@montana.edu


Thomas Bass, M.S.
Livestock Environment and Sustainability
Associate Extension Specialist
(406) 994-5733
tmbass@montana.edu


Sierra Anthony, M.S.
Project Coordinator
(406) 220-1238
sierra.jepsen@montana.edu

Support for this program is provided by USDA NIFA sponsorship award #20227042038269 to Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). SARE POC: Kristy Borrelli, assoc_dir@sare.org