The Triangle Meat Buying Club is committed to procuring wholesome, healthy and sustainably raised meat and poultry from local NC Choices farmers.

By purchasing locally produced meat and poultry from NC Choices farmers, you can:

Eat fresh, healthy meat that has been not been treated with antibiotics, hormones, additives or preservatives
Help reduce carbon emissions because locally produced meat and poultry has not traveled the average 1,500 miles that most foods travel
Support local farmers and helps protect farmland from urban sprawl and development
Work together with your neighbors, friends, and colleagues to connect with farmers and help strengthen local communities and economies
Be assured that all animals were raised with their welfare in mind, outdoors or in comfortable bedded pens provide their animals with the opportunity to breath fresh air, socialize freely, and engage in natural behavior

Supporting Local Farmers.

While buying local meats directly from farmers may not be less expensive than store-bought products, you can rest assured that the vast majority of the money you spend supports local farmers and food businesses. (In contrast, less than 25 cents of every dollar typically spent on food actually ends up in the hands of farmers.)

Whenever possible, we source from NC Choices farmers

Jennifer Curtis, Project Director for NC Choices, summarizes the situation with local meat processing in this manner: "There are a variety of challenges within the current meat processing and distribution system in North Carolina that make it difficult to expand the market for locally-raised meat and meat products. These are:

Limited Small-Scale Facilities

While meat can be raised throughout the state, there are fewer than 30 inspected meat slaughter facilities in North Carolina that are accessible to small-to-medium scale, independent farmers. As of this writing, only one of these is both accessible to small-scale independent farmers and has the capacity to both slaughter and create value-added products (e.g., cured hams, smoked bacon and sausage). This reflects the current reality that the majority of meat processing capacity is owned by large, vertically integrated companies which only process meat for their customers and private labels. For example, in NC 90 percent of the pork processing capacity is owned by Smithfield Foods. Most small-to-medium scale producers in North Carolina have only one choice for where to have their animals slaughtered and processed within reasonable geographic proximity. This is particularly true in the Piedmont and Western parts of the state, which coincidentally is where the majority of the market demand for niche meats is located.

Virtually No Value-Added Facilities

Most of the farmers who are able to supply meat to local markets have no or limited access to facilities to create value-added products. In the food business, profits margins are directly linked to the creation and sale of value-added products because of the ability to turn what might otherwise be a waste (e.g., trim meat) into high value products (e.g., hot dogs). For the past several years, those NC Choices farmers attempting to add value to their product lines have traveled to South Carolina and as far away as Pennsylvania for these services. Recently, NC Choices farmers have begun utilizing Acre Station Meat Farm and Pineridge Foods for value-added processing of hogs. Recent funding from Golden Leaf will expand value-added processing at Matkins Meats in Caswell County.

No Trained Butchers

An additional problem is the inconsistent quality of meat cutting and packaging. This is largely attributable to the fact that that there are very few skilled butchers. With the trend toward "case ready" meat (e.g., pre-packaged off-site) in most grocery stores, the profession of meat butcher has all but disappeared. Meat processors increasingly rely on transitory, immigrant labor and can neither find nor afford to compensate for highly skilled labor.

For More Info:

If you'd like to sign up or learn more please email Lisa Forehand