Brawey Beef Country: California's unique, producer-owned beef processing plant is leaner and meaner as it adapts to a rapidly changing industry

摘要

Thandwriting was on the wall. The future of the commercial beef industry in and around Southern California's Imperial Valley hinged on having a local packing plant. In the late 1980s, access to efficient beef processing facilities began to wane in theSouthwest as packers moved toward the nation's interior, Meanwhile, the region's cattlemen were fine-tuning large-scale feeding programs using the region's ready supply of Holstein steer calves. So, in 1999, Gary Oden of Wellton, AZ, and Bill Brandt ofBrawley, CA, set the wheels in motion, and a group of area cattle producers (see sidebar on page 46) organized to take Brawley Beef, LLC, from idea to reality.