Keep Jobs Local By Eating Local
Add comment April 29th, 2009
Being a business that is built on processing livestock into
consumer-ready meat, I see a great value in consuming locally raised
product. I have the unique perspective in that I do not raise the
animals. I leave that task up to individuals that have dedicated their
lives to that job. Instead, I prefer being the middleman, the company
that converts raw material into a usable product for the consumer. This
allows individuals to consume beef, pork, and lamb raised in Winnebago,
Boone, Ogle, Stephenson and surrounding counties. This also allows me
to provide jobs in the community.
Currently at Eickman’s Processing, we employ twenty-eight individuals
and one state-employed meat inspector. These people are employed
because there is a job to do in converting livestock to meat
products. These jobs are here because people want to consume local
products. They want to know where their meat was raised, what pasture
it stood in and what it was fed. It also allows their product to be
handled and packaged to their specifications.
Also, if you consume local meat products, you are helping more than
just the people doing the processing. For starters, you are helping the
farmers. We need the farmers to produce food, but if they do not get
prices that allow them to continue, they will go out of business. This
is very evident from the price drop of hogs in the middle 90’s. Prices
bottomed out, and a lot of local hog producers stopped producing
hogs. Today, to locate a hog producer in Winnebago County is more
difficult than it was at that time. Having a different market to sell
their products to would have allowed them to have an option to set the
price, instead of their having to take the only price offered to them.
After the farmers, by buying local, you help the businesses that supply
the farmers and processors. We need supplies to run our businesses. If
we can buy the supplies locally, we provide jobs to paper supply
companies, refrigeration repairmen, and accountants to name a few.
Instead of grabbing the package of ground beef out of the grocery
store, think of the impact that your dollars can have if instead you
seek out local ground beef. Your hard-earned dollars will stay local,
provide jobs to your neighbors, and more than likely give you a better
product. The local food directory is a great way start finding local
sources, contacting farmers directly for their product, and keeping the
jobs local.
