• NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Meat & Poultry Inspection Division
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
  • Small Plant Help Desk Newsletters and guidebooks geared to the small and very small federal- and state-inspected establishment owners and operators who produce meat, poultry and egg products. Provides plain language guides for translating FSIS rules and regulations into daily operational practices.

• NC Choices

• NC Choices Conferences and Trainings:
  • The Carolina Meat Conference  - Hands-on meat cutting instruction, panel and round-table discussions, presentations and ample networking opportunities for producers, buyers, processors and other meat professionals
  • Women Working in the Meat Business Conference - NC Choices’ Women Working in the Meat Business brings together women farmers, processors, and professionals from across the country who raise, butcher, prepare, and/or market pasture raised meat. In a focused, hands-on setting, women convene in North Carolina for over two days of training, from on-farm management to butchery, by the nation’s top professionals.
  • NC Choices News Listserv: The NC Choices News listserv serves as a forum for educational and marketing opportunities as they pertain to local and niche meats.Contact Sheila@ncchoices.com to be added.
  • NC Choices Classifieds Listserv: The NC Choices’ Classifieds listserv serves as a forum for meat and livestock commerce. Private individuals and commercial interests may use this service. Contact Sheila@ncchoices.com to be added.

• Amazing Grazing Amazing Grazing is a pasture-based livestock educational initiative that began at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems in Goldsboro, NC and has developed into a statewide program. The program includes producer workshops, interagency advisor workshops, and research and demonstration projects.
• NC Cattlemen's Association Coordinates the promotion of beef and the beef industry in North Carolina. The NCCA is a membership organization that assists cattlemen in legislative, regulatory, and production issues.
• National Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network (NMPAN) National organization offering "tools and information for small processors, niche meat producers, marketers, and buyers across the United States.
  • NMPAN listserv: You can use the NMPAN listserv to ask and answer questions and share information about meat and poultry processing. The listserv has 1,000+ members across the nation including small-scale processors, farmers, ranchers, Cooperative Extension personnel, federal and state employees, and others.
  • NMPAN Peer-to-Peer Consulting: Whether you have a complicated problem or are planning to make a significant change to your processing business, you might benefit from a “thinking partner” – an experienced processor who has been there and can share insights and suggestions.

Poultry

• Keeping Garden Chickens in North Carolina North Carolina Cooperative Extension Publication AG-729W, Edwards, A. and Carver, D.K. 2008.
• Backyard Flock & Eggs - Small Flock Management Resources Resource out of the NC State University, Prestage Department of Poultry Science.
• Anderson, Ken. 2015. Explaining the North Carolina Egg Law for Producers with Small Flocks. N.C. Cooperative Extension Publication, AG-802.
• Pastured Poultry Resources Link to resources on N.C. Cooperative Extension's Growing Small Farms web portal.
• Selling Eggs, Meat, and Poultry in North Carolina: What Farmers Need to Know Resource developed by Debbie Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent, Chatham County, NC.
• Web Resources: Small Scale Livestock Resources gathered by Debbie Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent, Chatham County, NC.

Primary Contact: Sarah Blacklin Project Director, NC Choices Center for Environmental Farming Systems NC State University sarah_blacklin@ncsu.edu