there's quite a move to these markets,,,part of me is all for this-the other part of me has red flags..
while im not a fan of wal-mart,,

,most of these natural stores have very small meat departments,,,grass fed local beef that is frozen


i want to see the larger stores---focus on meats,, -high volume , so meatcutters can make 20 an hour with benefits

the llocally grown/grass fed, movement has been growing for a while and may continue to grow,,,which is fine,,
but as an industry, its volume that pays better wages/bennies...unless you own the store

a lot of new smaller places opening up here in rural maine,,, the organics, locally grown and all
but very small meat departments,,often with no meatcutter,,they bring in frozen cryovac grass fed beef

most of us work for stores/companies that carry western beef-

i often get asked by friends and relatives,,, is that local grass fed beef better??? i tell them to try it themselves- most arent use to the grass fed flavor...dont like it..
but, the other thing im seeing,,,is these local places- dumping on the western beef bigtime to promote their own,,,and this isnt good for the overall industry
(keep in mind-the loud voices for organic , or grass fed beef-are folks who dont eat alot of meat anyways,,but throwing mud against the western beef-thats what ive seen personally)

the meat industry should be a big enough tent to sell any  type of meat-but when one faction starts ripping into the other faction-particularly western beef- then thats a problem-i guess thats all im trying to say

just my two cents

-- Edited by Mainemeatman on Saturday 20th of July 2013 08:45:12 AM

jimmy- those are the same comments i hear...and it doesnt do the industry as a whole...any favors..

the super-market cutters or boxed beef cutters-yes they may not be the butchers (boners and breakers) but the majority of higher paying cutting jobs are retail cutters in high volume stores,,and it does no benefit for us, or anyone else to be dumping on certain factions of the industry-even tho we all have our own personal opinions..

in many stores i visit, there is a push to carry the locally grown/local beef, and their may be a section for it...the store owner is trying to support a local vendor..
however,, when they try to put up signs promoting their beef, and in doing so- it bashes the rest of the western beef-here's where i have a problem-or once i saw a locallly grown vendor sampling some beef,,and he was dumping on the rest of the western beef- thats when we got into it..

its cliche' and feel good to say its locally grown beef- but most of the industry and our jobs are derived from western beef-so we are essentially the defenders of any movement ,,shytting on our livelyhoods

there's enough room for all of us,,without dumping on each other