What's Limiting Local Eating? Lack of Slaughterhouses

---

The New York Times identifies a looming problem for the locavore movement: the lack of small-scale butchers.

In what could be a major setback for America's local-food movement, championed by so-called locavores, independent farmers around the country say they are forced to make slaughter appointments before animals are born and to drive hundreds of miles to facilities, adding to their costs and causing stress to livestock.As a result, they are scaling back on plans to expand their farms because local processors cannot handle any more animals.

Peter Smith mentioned this problem in his food column in January. Part of the solution, of course, is DIY butchery classes like the ones conducted by Ryan Farr in San Francisco.