Latest developments:
November 2016 – USDA Grant of Inspection approved. SSOP/HACCP Butchers certified.
Interim Manager/Head Butcher/Assistant Butchers ready for receiving animals. Slaughter schedule accepting Dec. 2016.
HIMC’s Membership Drive launched in November 2015. Hawai‘i Island livestock producers raising pigs, sheep, goats and cattle are invited to apply for membership in the Cooperative.
Hawai‘i Island Meat Cooperative was incorporated as a Hawai‘i State Agricultural Producer Cooperative in March 2015.
Steering committee producer members finalized the design specifications for a 36-foot MSU and placed an order with TriVan, the most experienced MSU manufacturer in the US, in April 2015.
MSU arrival November 1st 2015. Parked at Hookano Ranch, Kealakekua South Kona.
Recent awards:
Big Island Resource Conservation & Development Council is serving as the fiscal sponsor for four grants supporting project development:
USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) for business planning and cooperative development
Hawai‘i State Department of Agriculture Grant for acquisition of the MSU, website development, and creation of a how-to handbook for MSU project development across the Hawaiian Islands
Hawai‘i County R&D grant to support HIMC’s membership drive
USDA RBDG grant to purchase a reefer truck for meat/carcass distribution
HIMC in the news: