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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Burlington, Vermont » Food Systems Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #406305
Research Project: Improving Vitality, Sustainability, and Value-Added Processing by Animal Food Systems in the New England States in a manner that Enhances Nutrition and Public Health

Location: Food Systems Research Unit

Title: Overcoming supply chain barriers to expanding beef cattle production in the Northeastern U.S.

Author
item GE, HOUTIAN - Cornell University
item GOMEZ, MIGUEL - Cornell University
item Peters, Christian

Submitted to: Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/8/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Consumer interest in purchasing locally-grown and grass-finished meat products is growing. However, producers can find it difficult to expand to meet this growing demand due to a range of supply chain bottlenecks. This study used an optimization model to examine the capacity for existing livestock slaughter and processing facilities to handle expansion of grass-finished beef production in New York and New England under three production scenarios. The model shows at what levels of production expansion the region would hit bottlenecks in processing or slaughter capacity and where expansion would need to occur to efficiently handle the increased number of cattle.

Technical Abstract: This article examines the slaughter and processing bottleneck problem in the Northeastern U.S. under three scenarios of grass-finished beef production expansion. Through modeling the optimal utilization of currently existing plant capacity in the region, this study identifies capacity expansion solutions to overcome the emerging bottleneck problems as grass-finished finished beef cattle production expands. The plant utilization problem is formulated as an optimization model with the objective of minimizing total costs associated with cattle assembly, slaughter, processing and distribution. Our results suggest that slaughter bottlenecks in New York State coincide with underutilized slaughter capacity in New England. Reducing plant numbers while increasing plant utilization rates or expanding the capacity of the remaining plants, would likely lead to greater cost savings. This study sheds light on ways to adjust and improve regional coordination mechanisms to enhance efficiency in grass-finished beef regional food systems under various production expansion scenarios.