As the demand for local food and farm-to-table restaurants rises, the American agriculture and food production industries are expanding.
Burgeoning local food systems have opened up opportunities for more women to own and operate businesses throughout the supply chain, especially in the meat industry. Farms and ranches operated by women have more than doubled in the last 30 years, and more women are also entering the fields of livestock production, meat processing, butchery and culinary arts. But succeeding in this new landscape presents a unique set of challenges.
Host Frank Stasio talks to some of the women who recently gathered for the 2nd annual Women Working in the Meat Business Conference. Kari Underly is a third-generation butcher and author of the Art of Beef Cutting (Wiley/2011); Robin Hampton is a farmer and meat marketer who co-owns Back Creek in Mount Ulla, North Carolina; and Sarah Blacklin is the director of NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems that promotes the advancement of local and niche meat.
Watch Keri Underly break down a side of beef:
