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	Gina Peebles, CPRP Assistant County Manager - Chief of Staff County Manager’s Office 12 SE 1st Street • Gainesville • FL • 32601 352-337-6279 (office) • 352-538-8265 (mobile)
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-----Original Message-----
From: William Bryson <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2023 9:18 AM
To: BOCC (Only Commissioners) <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Local meat processing plant

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I was so pleased to see this news regarding a local meat processing plant.
As a former beef cattle farmer (2011-2020) I found a lack of local, high quality, affordable meat processing to be one of the primary factors contributing to the failure of my business and one of the primary economic challenges to local, small, beef, poultry and pork producers. Farming a grass-fed cow herd size of approximately 120 cows I was unable to compete with larger grass-fed operations, often with their pricing being lower than mine by 200-300% with processing being a significant cost to my operation, attempting to sell direct to market, making it impossible to compete. The infeasibility of the direct to market model for small farms forces smaller farms to almost exclusively operate as a cow/calf model, which primarily sends locally grown beef out of the local market.
Adding a mobile component to the processing operation would be worth considering, in my opinion, making it even more affordable for even smaller farmers who may have transportation challenges to process locally grown meat for their own use or for sale.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://alachuachronicle.com/prizzia-meat-processing-facility-will-support-farmers-ranchers-and-our-environment/__;!!KOmxaIYkRmNA0A!RnroEK5c5-8txo3Oox7d23NOjmyrpT6mTynztdkryWMRWGoOs4lYluU0PW3AyCGfw-_ZJgvA2j8tksoJNNnKUyhN$

William Bryson
Aquilla Farm, LLC
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https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/Aquillafarm/__;!!KOmxaIYkRmNA0A!RnroEK5c5-8txo3Oox7d23NOjmyrpT6mTynztdkryWMRWGoOs4lYluU0PW3AyCGfw-_ZJgvA2j8tksoJNK3NuIWc$
352-219-0145