ACEnet Food & Farm Enterprise Center: Meat Processing Tour & Overview

 

Join us at ACEnet's Nelsonville Ohio Food & Farm Enterprise Center for an overview discussion and tour of their value-added meat processing facility, including its impacts on producers and the local & regional economy. A local and sustainably sourced lunch will be served by ACEnet tenant, Pork & Pickles. Tickets for lunch are $15.

Schedule for the Day:

11:00 meet at Nelsonville Food and Farm Enterprise Center

11:00-11:30 tour of the meat and vegetable prep rooms with optional additional tour of the rest of the Nelsonville Hub 

11:30-12:45 - discussion with Adam Kody - Director of the ACEnet Food & Farm Enterprise Center & Josh Waddell Facility Manager at the Nelsonville about working with local regulators & the HACCP process

12:45-1 - break; network/walk around

1:00 - lunch and networking catered by ACEnet Food and Farm Enterprise Center tenant, Pork and Pickles

2:00 - 3:00 - discussion with Derek & Elise Allison, owners of Farm on the Ridge.

Farm on the Ridge Bio: 

Farm on the Ridge is a farm in Jackson County, Ohio, about one and a half hours from ACEnet's Food and Farm Enterprise Center. At Farm on the Ridge, the Allison family raises beef, pork, and poultry. Primarily a hog production operation, Farm on the Ridge sustainably raises swine completely on farm, from breeding until they go to be butchered. When it came time to have the hogs slaughtered and processed, it was important to the Allison family that the finished consumer value added pork products were as high quality as the hogs the meat came from. With no processing facilities in the area open to doing specialty cuts of meat, Derrick and Elise began utilizing ACEnet's Food Ventures Center to produce their own value-added pork products.

Upon the opening of the Food and Farm Enterprise Center, Farm on the Ridge was the first tenant. This means their labels were inspected and compliant with the state level regulations, allowing them to expand selling in wholesale markets. At the event, Derrick will share their hands-on experience working with ACEnet, local regulators and wholesale outlets and how his business has changed as a direct result of the ACEnet Food and Farm Enterprise Center.

 

Register Now! 

More Information:

Parking at the facility: Park along the right side of the building and enter through the main doors.

For overnight stays: ACEnet recommends the Ohio University Inn  for lodging. Their contact is sales@ouinn and phone number is 740-589-3704, ask to speak with Betsy.