Farm to Market Pork benefits from 'locavore' trend

When Duane and Janette Braaten transformed Farm to Market Pork from a hog farm into a meat processing and retail facility in 1985, the plan was to create a local market for high-quality locally raised pork.

Now, the national trend for eating locally grown foods has led to an increased awareness of not only where, but also how the bacon and pork chops are produced.

“That’s really been in our favor,” Duane Braaten said. He has witnessed huge growth in the demand for local products throughout his 25 years in business as a meat producer.

Braaten takes an all-natural approach to farming, prohibiting the use of hormones or antibiotics. He doesn’t buy animals from other farms, but relies instead on his own breeding program to produce the meat sold under the Farm to Market Pork label.

“We only sell what we raise,” he said.

With a continual stock of roughly 700 to 800 pigs and 70 head of cattle on his 70-acre farm northwest of Kalispell, the farm doesn’t need to draw from outside sources. The Braatens’ 80 sows, with an average gestation period of 112 to 114 days, produce upwards of 100 piglets each month to keep a steady supply of pork. An average litter produces eight to 14 piglets.

The increase in “locavores” —  people who aim to eat locally produced food — has spurred interest in other butcher shops in the area as well.

“We have people every day that ask where our beef comes from and asks if it’s natural,” said Collin “Sonny” Johnson, the lead meat cutter at Perfect Cuts in Columbia Falls.

Johnson acknowledged a drop in street traffic during the recession, but said his customers’ curiosity and knowledge about the production of the meats has increased.

Jeremy Plummer, the third-generation manager of Lower Valley Processing in Kalispell, has noticed another burgeoning trend — that of raising a single cow or pig rather than relying on the big farms and grocers to supply a year’s worth of meat.

“You don’t have to be a farmer to keep your freezer full,” Plummer said.

Lower Valley Processing has been family-owned for 46 years and Plummer said the locavore buzz definitely has increased business.

“It’s not a huge increase, but we haven’t been hurting, that’s for sure,” he said. “There’s a lot of people turning to the local market rather than the grocery stores.”

Times weren’t always so good in the meat industry. About 10 years ago, the market value for selling hogs dropped to about $0.08 per pound — or about $20 a pig, Duane Braaten said. The sales price was roughly a fifth of what it cost just to feed the hog to prepare it for sale.

Processing plants were closing down, but farmers were continuing to breed at high velocity, backing up remaining plants for weeks.

The glut on the market caused a major shake-out in the farm industry, he said. Many family farms were forced to sell off their livestock and exit the industry. The Flathead Valley went from processing 600 pigs a week to about 40.

To survive, Farm to Market Pork lowered prices, but even that wasn’t enough to satisfy some customers. Because the crisis had worked its way into the mass media, many of his buyers were aware of the pricing situation and expected to receive their pork for even cheaper than the Braatens’ discounted prices.

“We had to educate them and say, ‘Do you want us to go out of business?’” he said.

Now a decade later, the hog market has stabilized. Hogs currently sell for about $170 a piece. Still, with the recession, sales of Farm to Market Pork are off about 15 percent.

It was Duane’s childhood dream to raise hogs.

It began when he bought his first piglet at age 12. Active in 4-H and FFA, he said his love for swine only grew as he got older.

“Some kids dream of being an astronaut. I wanted to be a pig farmer,” he said.

For Pittsburgh-born Janette, a former teacher, Duane’s passion took a little getting used to.

“I had no thought in my mind of being on a pig farm,” she said with a laugh. “I had to grow into it.”

They married in 1976 and bought the Farm to Market farm where they continue to raise their pigs later that year.

For the next decade, they raised hogs and sold them live on the market.

As nearby packing plants began to shut down in the early 1980s, they found themselves paying more to ship their hogs. Duane didn’t like the additional trauma of trucking them as far as Southern California, so he and Janette decided to create their own processing facility where they could control their product.

The Braatens never planned to go into meat processing, but both agree their knowledge of butchering has immensely improved the quality of their meat.

By going through the whole process from breeding to cutting, they’ve learned new ways to feed their hogs to create leaner, more flavorful cuts — increasing the value of their business.

About five years ago, they began aggressively promoting their beef as well.

“It works well with the pork,” Janette said.

Today, the Braatens employ three full-time workers and four part-time employees at the farm, as well as themselves.

“I feel it’s really important that we’re still involved,” Duane said.

In addition to selling their products at the farm, the Braatens also market their meats at both the Kalispell and Missoula Clark Fork River farmers markets.

“We’ve really been happy with our acceptance in Missoula,” Janette said.

Area residents also can find their chops and hams at restaurants such as Jagz, Coffee Traders, Wrap N Roll, Amazing Crepes, Second Street Pizza, Lula’s, Gresko’s and McGarry’s Roadhouse. Farm to Market Pork also is for sale at Alpine Market in Whitefish.

“We started really slow and just grew over the years,” Duane said. “Janette and I pretty much started at the bottom and built it all up.”

Reporter Erika Hoefer may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at ehoefer@dailyinterlake.com