That’s how Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish describes this weekend’s resolution process at the state convention. COVID exposed shortfalls in the meatpacking industry. Wertish said that put the packer concentration issue front-and-center for his members. “We had a lot of reports during the pandemic when farmers were selling their animals at a loss and the beef packer was making $800 to $2,000 per head profit on every animal they processed.” Wertish believes it is important to expand local processing. “We’re working with Central Lakes College at Staples at Ridgewater at Willmar and putting together a mobile slaughter unit to train the workforce and when they don’t need it, we plan to process animals for farmer-members.”
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