On October 20, Western Colorado Alliance’s Local Food and Agriculture Committee members had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Temple Grandin.

Dr. Grandin revolutionized the meat processing industry. She brought a focus on animal welfare to the industry. Before her work, animals heading to slaughter were treated atrociously. Without going into detail, large-scale meat processing, rarely, if ever, considered the wellbeing of the animal. Dr. Grandin worked for large corporations, including helping to revamp the suppliers of McDonalds. In her experience working with large processing operations, Dr. Grandin saw the “cracks” in the system. Those cracks — and what could be done to change them — are exactly what our membership wanted to know more about.

The coronavirus pandemic expanded the cracks into clear breaks in our food system. As Dr. Grandin put it, “Large processors are efficient but fragile, and the virus broke it.” This breakage led to massive food waste.
Across the Midwest, we saw the euthenasia of thousands of pigs, their meat gone to waste. “It was tragic and unnecessary. This was an utter failure of our food supply chain.” Without major changes, this will not be the last failure of our food system.

However, there is hope. If there ever was a time to change the
system, it is now.

There are different paths to making a new supply chain. Instead of “efficient but fragile,” we are working toward being “diverse and resilient.” In our system, what makes money makes policy. Dr. Grandin argues for the ability of small, well-run businesses to take on the large conglomerates. Her example: the Fort Collins beer industry.

Fort Collins is home to Fat Tire, Odell, and a swell of other popular microbrews. As a result, the city has put Coors and Budweiser on their heels. “Why can’t Western Colorado be known for their beef, like Fort Collins is known for its beer?” questioned Dr. Grandin.

Of course, as Dr. Grandin admitted, the comparison isn’t perfect. Meat processing presents different complexities from brewing. However, the ability to disrupt the status quo is quite comparable.

As members of Western Colorado Alliance, we are committed to help build grassroots power and Western Colorado communities that are healthy, just, and self-reliant. Our Alliance will be deciding between four possible paths for action. These include: Advocating for state meat inspection; pushing for a potential Food Freedom Act; bolstering work for a local food processing and distribution center on the Western Slope; and bringing a focus on regenerative soil. This, along with national level work being conducted with Western Organization of Resource Council, will require the ability to generate power from all types of members. We are all affected by the current food supply chain, and it will take a mass effort on all our parts to change it.