Washington Isle News

Island Grown Farmers Cooperative is building a new processing plant at the Port of Skagit in order to meet rising demands and support local farms.

The new plant will be two-and-a-half times larger than the current plant in Bow and will double the number of animals processed over the next several years.

“The demand for locally grown (United States Department of  Agriculture)-inspected meat has been consistently growing over the last decade, and the pandemic has increased that demand even more,” Phil Shephard, the co-op’s board president, told Skagit Valley Herald.

The co-op, made up of 80 members in northwest Washington, operates the first USDA-inspected mobile slaughter unit that allows meat to be processed on a farmer's site instead of having to travel hours to another facility. It also operates a USDA-inspected cut and wrap facility in Bow.

With USDA-inspected meats, farmers can sell their products in packages by the cut at farmers markets and grocery stores. Otherwise, they would have to use custom-exempt processing which requires selling meat in larger quantities and having the sale pre-arranged.

“Our members are able to sell their product at a premium, and it keeps  80 farms going across Northwest Washington in five counties,” Shephard  told Skagit Valley Herald. “They are family farms and are small. The meat processing varies  as to how much of their income it is, and it’s a substantial boost for  all these small farms.”

Island Grown Farmers hopes to break ground on the new facility in November and be operational by the spring.