April 1, 2010

Va. school systems to serve local beef

LEXINGTON—Public school systems in Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro and the counties of Augusta and Rockbridge will purchase half their beef for the 2010-2011 school year from a local farmer and processor.

The meat will be raised by Charlie Potter, owner of Buffalo Creek Beef and Donald’s Meat Processing.

The school systems combined their purchasing power to acquire about 30,000 pounds of ground hamburger and beef patties. The purchase will put about $140,000 back into the local economy.

“Local food is an excellent economic development tool, and the schools are very excited about this project,” said Christopher Carpenter, special projects coordinator for Washington and Lee University, who coordinated the effort between the schools and Potter.
Harrisonburg City Public Schools currently purchases bulk ground beef from T&E Meats in Harrisonburg and beef patties from a company in Cincinnati.

“We’re excited about this opportunity. T&E Meats does not have the capacity to make patties, but Donald’s Meat Processing does,” said Andrea Early, the school system’s nutrition program director. “We will continue to purchase bulk ground beef from T&E and patties from Donald’s and hope to only be serving local beef by 2012.”

Keeping money in the local economy is important, Early noted. “The money funnels back and is spent locally. We need to feed children, so why not buy food from someone local, if we can work out the distribution and price?”

Contact Carpenter at 540-458-8636, Early at 540-437-3300 or Sara Owens, VFBF special projects coordinator, at 804-290-1133.