Hey everyone, happy Sunday.

 

How are you guys?

 

I've been trying to avoid the news, but I can't. It's following me.

 

Some of the biggest news that's been flying under the radar amidst the pandemic are the meat packing plant closures. Meat packing plants are closing down due to coronavirus outbreaks, and pig and beef and chicken farmers are getting backed up. If the meat processor is closed, you can't ship your animals. You can't just keep feeding them, because you'll quickly run out of money, and you can't sell them, so what do you do?

 

Often they just have to cull them. And all that meat is wasted. It never makes it to store shelves.

 

Couple that with people buying as much as they can, stores rationing how much you can buy, and you have shortages. These are man-made shortages, mind you. The food exists. It's out there. But we're tripping over our own feet and can't get it.

 

It's not just affecting the industrial meat, either. Many of the small-time farmers, local guys who sell direct-to-consumer out of farmer's markets and online, are having trouble getting their animals processed because the processing facilities they use are getting slammed. The ones that are doing fine are those who have in-house processing capacity, and the ones who have strong relationships with a small-scale processor. The producers who have to send their animals out are having trouble.

 

It is more important now than ever before to support your local farmers and ranchers. They're out there, oftentimes better equipped to get food to you than the bigger guys. Now is the time to source a quarter, half, or full cow, splitting the cost with friends and family if you have to. Now's the time to finally get those backyard chickens you've been wanting. Now's the time to really look at rural living, if you're so inclined. Now's the time to shift your shopping to the farmer's market as much as possible.

 

I see this as an opportunity to establish a better relationship with the meat we eat, if I'm being honest. We won't be forced into lab-grown pseudo-meat if we seize that opportunity.

 

Are you seeing any meat shortages or rationing? How are you getting your meat these days? Let me know in the comment section of Weekly Link Love.