A TIMELINE OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS & THANK YOUS TO OUR TEAM SO FAR
Katie Hershfelt convenes first meeting
Katie Hershfelt of SBCFANKatie uses her county-wide connections to help initiate the SBCFAN Working Group. Coordinates the Meat Processing Working Group, oversees the survey, does primary research on feasibility of mobile harvesting unit, speaks with the County about needs and challenges.
First Meetings of the Working Group
Group assembles for the first time (virtually) in 2021.Matthew and Katie conduct survey
Matthew Shapiro of UCANRMatthew and Katie: We couldn’t do anything without data, so conducted survey from you guys. Thank you!
SBCFAN and Local Federal Representative
New Partnership
Partnered with our local federal representative office to meet the then newly installed warden and tour the ag enterprise and education facilities in Feb 2022.
Prison Approached SBCFAN
Fall of 2022 prison approached SBCFAN with a nonprofit/federal government partnership. SBCFAN would be the sole customer, essentially acting as the distributor, and contract labor from the prison.
Fred Hayes Brings Previous Prison Certification
Fred Hayes of Lompoc PrisonPrison HAD USDA Certification for years, (larger scale) obtained to address this. Working with SBCFAN, finds consultant (Amilton De Mello) to inspect facility and write a spec document of what is needed to obtain USDA Cert again. This is VERY close to ready.
Amilton de Mello Writes Spec
Amilton de Mello | Dept. of Agriculture, Veterinary & Rangeland Sciences | University of Nevada, RenoConsultant Amilton de Mello was able to inspect facility and write a spec document of what is needed to obtain USDA Cert again.
Randy Jones Applies for CDFA Grant through Pork Palace
Randy Jones of CDFARandy Jones at CDFA through Pork Palace, applied for USDA grant, has CDFA cert for his butcher (a key role in this process), and equipment for meat harvesting so that they can open to the public for small scale operations.
Data Summary Report to DC
365 days of data collectedThe Data Summary Report is submitted to Washington, DC on July 18, 2023.
This survey captures just a preliminary “snapshot” of demand in the region. Most excitingly though, even with our small sample size (n=46), the data we have gathered suggests that demand is quite strong; strong enough to justify and support at least one small- to moderately-sized meat processing facility in the region.”
— Meat Processing Survey Report, 9/22
NOTABLE SUCCESSES
- Coming soon!
