Troutman served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010 and is the founder and chief executive officer of the Labor Solutions staffing agency. “My hope is that this will help those in the farming community, particularly the youths, and make them want to stay in farming and ranching.” “What I’m doing is unprecedented,” he says. Troutman says he’s been approached by small, backyard ranchers and large operations alike who are enticed by the direct farm-to-fork model, the elimination of middlemen, and the hyper-local advantage. The community’s reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. “Eighty percent of Florida’s major cattle-ranching operations are within 150 miles of where F1 Meats is set up,” he says. It’s that kind of assurance that he says the ag community of Central Florida desperately needs. reviews and accepts those plans and then holds us accountable for them.” We have to submit plans by which we will process the animals. “The USDA’s primary objective is cleanliness. “When you’re under USDA inspection, you are held to a higher standard,” Troutman explains. “This means, essentially, there are only two USDA-inspected facilities south of I-4 dedicated to nonreligious processing. “There are only six USDA-certified meat processing facilities south of Interstate 4 in Florida, and four of those are for specifically kosher or halal processing,” he says. While there are small, backyard operations, they may not be able to guarantee safety and cleanliness like a facility that is fully vetted by the USDA. The businessman hopes that by bringing the meat processing function to the local level, he’ll be able to help local farmers and the community.Ĭurrently, Central Florida farmers and fair participants are limited in their options for processing meat. “You’ve got to have a professional, dependable, reliable processor in order for a fair to be a success.” “A meat-processing service is very important to the overall success of a county fair, and it’s the last part of the process for kids raising livestock animals,” he explains. will focus on working with local ranchers to buy their animals at market prices to sell via e-commerce and directly to food service entities, wholesale, and retail grocery stores. Once the fair season is over, F1 Meat Co. Troutman expects the facility to handle an estimated 2,500 head of livestock this season - which is roughly 35 percent of the area’s fair animals.ĭuring the first four months of each year, the focus will be on processing livestock from the youth fair. The Frostproof operation, which is a professional, USDA-certified facility, is currently up and running, and the official grand opening/field day was held January 13. a full-service meat processing operation that will serve the 28 county fairs within the Central Florida region. This month, he opened Florida First Meats LLC - also called F1 Meat Co. Now, he’s building on that vision to better serve the ag community and those who have worked so hard to pass on their way of life to the youths. At the time, he processed roughly 500-600 head of livestock. He worked with eight fairs, including the Polk County Youth Fair and Florida Strawberry Festival, as well as fairs in Charlotte County, Kissimmee River Valley, Orange County, and two in DeSoto County. Troutman tried his hand at processing for fairs in a limited capacity in 2021 and then more extensively in 2022. He has a long history with citrus and cattle ranching, and in 2010 he opened Chop-N-Block, a Winter Haven custom meat-processing business that serves area hunters and farmers. The 56-year-old Frostproof native is no newcomer to the Florida agriculture scene. That shift, he says, could be a game-changer for the local agriculture industry and especially youth fair participants. That struggle prompted fourth-generation Florida farmer Baxter Troutman to evaluate how he could bring the meat-processing function closer to home. Interruptions at the nation’s largest meat-processing corporations - which handle an estimated 80 percent of the total supply - led to shortages and other supply-chain disruptions. If the pandemic proved anything, it was the need for more meat-processing facilities at the state and local levels. This year, fair participants and their families have a new opportunity once the fun wraps up. January marks the beginning of fair season throughout Central Florida, and Polk County’s Youth Fair kicks off the festivities. New Meat Processing Facility Aims to Rewire Supply Chain
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