Agenda Item Name:
Title
American Rescue Plan - State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - Food System Equity Program: Meat Processing Facility for Workforce Training and Local Food Resilience 2022-2026 Work Plan (ARP2021x014)
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Presenter:
Sean McLendon, Office of SEEDS
Description:
Presentation of a work plan: Meat Processing Facility for Workforce Training and Local Food Resilience
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the preliminary work plan and the budget amendment. Direct staff to proceed with the Work Plan and submit the project as a State Legislative Request for capital project funding.
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Prior Board Motions:
June 22, 2021 - American Rescue Plan - State and Local Fiscal Revenue Recovery Funds
Fiscal Consideration: $26,129,224.50 has been received from the U.S. Treasury
Recommended Action: Approve the Plan, adopt the resolution for unanticipated revenue and accompanying budget amendment, and authorize the County Manager to: (i) approve and sign any recipient grant agreements and related documents necessary for the County to receive American Rescue Plan funding from the Federal Government; (ii) develop for subsequent BOCC approval guidelines and criteria for implementation of each Plan element, and (iii) negotiate for subsequent BOCC approval interlocal agreements and other contracts to implement the Plan.
Commissioner Prizzia moved to Approve the Preliminary Plan presented with a modification to increase local food line item to $4 million and decrease Undesignated line item from $9 million to $6 million, adopt the resolution for unanticipated revenue and accompanying budget amendment, and authorize the County Manager to: (i) approve and sign any recipient grant agreements and related documents necessary for the County to receive American Rescue Plan funding from the Federal Government; (ii) develop for subsequent BOCC approval guidelines and criteria for implementation of each Plan element, plus, explore items discussed during commission comment to possibly be added to the Plan including, mental health, non-profit capacity building, structural translation funding, re-entry services, and senior housing as well as request an update on the central receiving unit and a presentation by UF Health and (iii) negotiate for subsequent BOCC approval interlocal agreements and other contracts to implement the Plan.
Motion passed 5-0
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
$2,500,000 allocation from ARPA - SLFRF until 12/31/2026. Project # ARP2021x014
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Strategic Guide:Strategic Guide
Social and Economic Opportunity
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Background:
In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Federal government has provided Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (ACBoCC) funding through the American Rescue Plan - State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). Alachua County will use $2.5 million in SLFRF funds to construct a USDA-certified meat processing facility (Facility) that will act as a job and workforce training center.
The Facility supports and remedies two types of communities/populations experiencing Covid-based inequities: The first is for COVID-impacted, marginalized communities that could benefit from vocational training in the meat processing field. The second is small, rural ranchers that are being pushed out of the marketplace by COVID impacts and ongoing systemic biases toward bigger producers. Both groups have faced challenges connected to inequitable market forces, resulting from consolidation and industrialization of processing and distribution channels and inequitable, racially based policies related to the distribution of resources and opportunities.
Uses of Funds
Alachua County will use $2.5 million SLFRF funds to first design and (later with other matching funds) complete the construction of a USDA-inspected meat processing facility and workforce training site in Newberry, Florida. This work will be done under the expenditure category Public Health-Negative Economic Impact: Public Sector Capacity EC 3.3 Public Sector Workforce: Other, for capital expenditure.
The ACBoCC will allocate $2.5 million of SLFRF funds from January 2023 through December 2026 to work with the City of Newberry, the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Science (UF-IFAS), and Santa Fe College in the design, construction, and operation of the Facility. These institutional partners will participate in the collaborative planning, operational function, local rancher engagement, and workforce training plans.
In the food sector, the COVID-19 pandemic showed a lack of resilience in the US food system which was designed primarily for efficiency. The consumer paid a heavy price for this brittle system that saw the retail price of beef increase by 125% due to supply impacts (Prevatt et al. 2020). Pandemic-induced problems for ranchers are ongoing. A research paper shows that over the next ten years, 15% of cattle ranchers may stop producing. Cited issues leaving include revenue concerns and more costly cattle feed (Prevatt et al. 2020).
At that same time that ranchers are facing COVID impacts so are underserved communities.
Promoting Equitable Outcomes
In 2018, before the pandemic, Alachua County was estimated to have 3.3% unemployment; however, in marginalized communities, unemployment for some ethnic groups was over twice this rate at 7%. At the same time, 36,000 or 13.9% of the population were food insecure or have inconsistent access to affordable foods that promote well-being and prevent disease in quantity and quality. Pre-COVID, these marginalized populations were also stressed with healthcare inequities.
Since the pandemic, these communities face covid-based inequities that entrench or exacerbate conditions of disproportionate unemployment levels and food insecurity. Employment with a livable wage and access to nutritious food are critical factors in maintaining health and preventing disease. Food system-related diseases for marginalized communities increased nationally because of COVID. This can be seen in the surge of demand for 2021 SNAP benefits which increased by 15% in January 2021 and 21% in October 2021.
Food insecurity in black communities is compounded by unemployment trends that run at 5.3% in 2022 first quarter, almost double that of white populations in Florida, at 2.8% in the same quarter. The Centers for Disease Control has highlighted the nexus between the disproportionate impacts of COVID on health outcomes based on employment and food insecurity. A 2022 article, Employment Loss and Food Insecurity - Race and Sex Disparities in the Context of COVID-19, highlights the economic disparities around problems of aggravating chronic unemployment and the lack of food security for marginalized and low-income communities. Interventions such as those proposed by this program may bring better employment opportunities in food system occupations to address access to food that in turn can reduce health impacts due to COVID in at-risk communities.
Meat processing and butchery requires a high degree of skill and can be a gateway for marginalized communities to stable employment and improved income opportunities. A small-scale USDA-inspected meat processing facility can serve as a jobs and workforce training center. A facility of this size will also address the market demand from small-scale ranchers that have difficulty accessing processing plants and retail opportunities for their products.
COVID has impacted many meat processing facilities which has contributed to an increase in the cost of food and economic harm to small ranchers. COVID also disproportionately impacts small agricultural producers. Small ranchers are already constrained in their access to USDA-certified processing facilities. In addition to the economic problems, COVID also placed additional psychologic stressors on small ranchers which also may be from marginalized communities. This COVID-compounded producer and processor problems have contributed to higher food costs that disproportionally impact marginalized communities, who report being food insecure more often (between 16-19%) than non-marginalized communities (at 6%) when asked if their household had had enough to eat in the last 7 days.
The United States has a food system that is biased toward large-scale producers and processors. This system is vulnerable to the disruptive effects of emergencies like COVID. Large systems lose their efficiency and effectiveness in health emergencies like COVID. These large processing facilities have also struggled to maintain an adequate workforce to meet consumer demand. This project seeks to address both concerns, by catering directly to small ranchers.
These COVID-compounded producer and processor problems have contributed to higher food costs that disproportionally impact marginalized communities.
Goals
This proposal targets the creation of a food system as a job and workforce center for historically underserved, marginalized, or adversely affected ranchers and related workforce who experienced COVID impacts to provide:
• A jobs pipeline for meat processing and related culinary arts
• A USDA-certified meat processing facility to aid small ranchers in our region.
• And a more resilient localized supply chain for meat processing and distribution.
Awareness
Alachua County piloted several programmatic responses using local funds in 2020-2021 with high participation of marginalized communities and great success. These programs align to the current proposal in that they laid the groundwork for the promotion of workforce training in marginalized communities and provided support to similar communities that are small farm operations. It has also conducted surveys in 2021 and stakeholder meetings through 2022 with the regional ranchers to develop the program of the proposed meat processing facility. The combination of pilot program experience, survey work, and stakeholder meetings ensures that the project will be equitable and practical in enabling these communities to be aware of the services funded by the SLFRF.
Access and Distribution
The two programmatic goals target services to different eligible populations based on their needs as jobs pipeline and for small-scale ranchers. These responses recognize the differences in levels of access to benefits and services across groups. A partnership with the UF-IFAS and Santa Fe College will be instrumental in setting vocational training requirements and certification. In addition, the management of the Facility will cater to small ranchers, that are represented by disenfranchised populations. Both workers and producers will be given a voice in the administration of the Facility to maximize access to benefits and services across groups.
Outcomes
These three programmatic goals, as previously stated, target services to different eligible populations, but it also addresses problems with the underlying food system of the community at a holistic level, from workforce and talent development to producer.
A small-scale USDA-certified meat processing facility can address the disproportionate impacts for a region by creating:
• Food system resilience and local food demand. A facility will be a local source of government-inspected meat products
• Support for Small and Mid-Sized Ranchers Provide a critical processing outlet dedicated to serving smaller producers
• Jobs and Workforce Development. Create a job and workforce center for butchery skills
Output Measures of Success
A small-scale USDA-certified meat processing facility should generate the following output measures:
• Carcasses processed per day: 4-15
• Direct jobs generated by the facility: 8-12
• Organic nutrient recycling. Tonnage of waste diverted from landfill for compost per day: 1.3 - 4.7 tons
Output Measures of Success that are - TBD based on the operations and curriculum plan.
• Value-added products number and value from meat processing
• Number of workers enrolled in job training programs
• Number of workers completing job training programs
• Demographic breakout of job training workers
• Employment of certified and trained workers at other facilities
• Facility gross and net income.
• Number of small farmers served