With USDA certification, local ranchers can sell directly to their communities through butcher boxes, subscriptions and farmers markets, keeping more value and more food close to home.
Source: New Mexico Economic Development Department (via Facebook)
Photos: Courtesy
When Michelle and Anthony Thomas started A&M Meat Processing in 2015, they were cutting meat until 3 a.m., working full-time jobs and pouring everything they had into a dream most banks wouldn’t touch.
Today, A&M is a USDA-certified facility and a lifeline for ranchers across southern New Mexico, giving local producers a way to turn their cattle into a business their families can build on. With USDA certification, local ranchers can sell directly to their communities through butcher boxes, subscriptions and farmers markets, keeping more value and more food close to home.
For rancher Brannon Mobley, it goes beyond business: “Before, we’d send our cattle to the sale barn and that was the end of the line. Now it feels like we’re doing something for our community.”
When the Healthy Food Financing Fund helped A&M complete the slaughter floor needed for USDA certification, it didn’t just help finish a facility. It opened the door to opportunity for an entire network of ranching families.
The Economic Development post stated, “That’s what this work is all about!”
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