Episode Description
Today on the show, my conversation with Butcher Matt Kemp, a week after he figuratively cut the ribbon at the Okanagan Butcher Hub, a new meat cutting facility located in Spallumcheen, just a hair north of Vernon.
Built by the Smallscale Meat Producers Association with support from multiple levels of government, it’s hoped that this butcher hub will help address a capacity issue that has dogged the region for years.
Matt joined me to talk about the year-long problem of insufficient slaughter and meat-cutting services in the Thompson-Okanagan, and really, around much of BC, and how this insufficiency has had knock-on effects on small-scale meat production. We’ve lost a lot of production, says Matt, and he hopes that butcher hubs like the one he’s now managing can slowly start to bring this production back online.
Mentioned in this episode:
Submit Your One Idea for Government Spending on the Ag Sector
On May 27 I’m planning to release an episode about Canada’s Next Policy Framework for Agriculture, which will greatly influence how the ag sectors of BC and Canada get funded. For that episode, I would really love to hear from some of you. What’s your one big insight or idea about how our governments should invest in agriculture that they’re either not currently doing or doing wrong? I’m interested in both your grand ideas but also just little tweaks to funding that you think would improve our sector. To share your idea, you can send me a voice recording, or invite me to interview you for 5 minutes. Either way, visit farminginbc.ca/submit to quickly and easily get hold of me.