Advocates for independent rural farmers are urging state lawmakers to beef up mom-and-pop meat processing and storage capacity using American Rescue Plan dollars.

Johnathan Hladik, policy director at the Center for Rural Affairs, said local producers need alternatives to JBS and Tyson, and investing in main-street lockers will help rural economies recover from the pandemic's economic fallout. It would also help more families across the state access high-quality meat.

"And you know where it came from," Hladik emphasized. "When you're buying hamburger from Walmart, you do not know what animals were involved with that, you don't know what countries they are from. And when you buy from a local farmer, it's going to be cost competitive, and you get the satisfaction of supporting your local community."

Hladik noted shovel-ready projects to increase locker capacity include building out wastewater infrastructure, adding freezer space, purchasing machinery and investing in training and apprenticeship programs. Hladik's group is working with Sen. Tom Brandt, R-Plymouth, to deliver investment recommendations to Nebraska's Appropriations Committee in the upcoming session.

Grant Potadle, a rancher who raises Red Angus Cattle, opened a locker in Herman when COVID shuttered meat-packing plants. He said giving more family farmers access to local processing can help them stay in business.

Big processors force producers to accept low commodity-based pricing, and siphon off any margins, but Potadle stressed local lockers let producers set their own prices.

"A lot of people work really, really hard, and they just don't get compensated the way they should for their work," Potadle contended. "And for the retail value of the product that they are producing."

Hladik pointed out making farming more profitable for small-scale producers will also bring more young people back to the land, which can set up rural economies for long-term success. He added when COVID caused big processors to shut down, local lockers were there to get the job done.

"And what that shows us is the absolute necessity of having that alternative system in place," Hladik argued. "We can't rely solely on the big multi-state entities; we are going to need these smaller places in place, if nothing else, for food security."

2022 will see a renewed focus on farmer safety in North Dakota. A key position has been filled to focus on education designed to reduce accidents and fatalities on farms.

It's been more than 15 years since North Dakota had a farm and ranch safety coordinator through North Dakota State University Extension Services, a gap attributed to cuts in federal funding.

But with new money from the Legislature, Farm and Ranch Safety Coordinator Angie Johnson has been hired.

She said these days, producers face so many pressures, and it can be hard for them to think about slowing down and being extra careful.

"We are under Mother Nature's control, and also with the markets," said Johnson. "And so, how do you make really good, rational, safe and healthy decisions for yourself when you're under that kind of pressure?"

She said it's about more than just avoiding rushing on the job - things like healthy sleep habits also are important.

Johnson said it's hard to get true data on accidents in North Dakota, because so many family farms aren't required to report to OSHA. But in 2020, the state ranked second in the nation for injuries in confined spaces on farms.

Shane Sickler - a fourth-generation farmer and member of the North Dakota Farmers Union - was injured in an accident several years ago.

He said he had noticed the decline in safety outreach, and feels a rejuvenated program will help producers, especially those seeing higher turnover with their staff.

"We're moving so much faster," said Sickler. "Equipment changes a lot, so you have to adapt to the equipment more often. And with inexperienced help that comes - that you hire, maybe every year - you have to re-educate 'em about the equipment and stuff."

As she shapes prevention education, Johnson said she'll gather feedback from local extension agents on the types of accidents they're seeing too often in their counties.

She also encouraged farmers to not ignore mental health concerns, so they're in the best position to run a safe operation.

"Take advantage of the rural mental health services we have," said Johnson. "They're so, so much better - they're improving. Telehealth has been a huge factor."

Wisconsin handed over management of its hemp industry to the federal government on Jan. 1, and farmers and researchers say the new system will reduce barriers to cultivating the crop. Under state management, Wisconsin hemp farmers paid up to $1,000 in licensing fees.

Phillip Scott, president of the Wisconsin Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association, said licensing costs have been reduced to nearly nothing under the feds.

"A lot of the farmers in our state that wanted to grow hemp, a lot of them actually steered clear of it," he said, "because $1,000 to get licensed up for a product that I might have to burn at the end of the season if it doesn't pass the testing? It didn't make sense to them."

Hemp farmers are required to destroy crops that register above a certain level of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Scott said federal management carries other benefits for farmers, including qualifying for future federal grant money.

The new federal licenses are issued for three-year periods, whereas the state had required farmers to reapply annually. Shelby Ellison, an assistant professor and hemp researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Horticulture, said the new three-year window will likely mean fewer changes in data-reporting standards, offering researchers a better view of the industry.

"There might be some small changes," she said, "but I don't think it will be as much as it has been the past couple of years, which has just made it more confusing for everybody."

Esther Shekinah, a research agronomist at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, said the change in management means the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection won't handle testing anymore.

"DATCP used to send people to come and test samples," she said, "but now the farmers are supposed to do their own sampling."

Farmers can reach out to more than a dozen U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved hemp samplers in Wisconsin for testing.

Kattia Jimenez, who owns Mount Horeb Hemp in southern Wisconsin, said she hopes these changes will bring long-term success for the hemp industry.

"I'm hoping that, as the years go by, we develop an infrastructure here in Wisconsin where it can really be a viable industry for our state," she said.

Michael Fields, in conjunction with several midwestern universities and research organizations, has compiled a Midwest Hemp Database of resources for farmers.

Meat prices have been on the rise, but family-farm advocates say higher profits haven't been making their way to smaller cattle producers.

Four companies control 85% of the beef supply, noted Darvin Bentlage, a cattle rancher and farmer in southwest Missouri. He said the executive order on promoting competition that President Joe Biden signed last summer is a step in the right direction, and he urged Congress to follow it up with additional measures to benefit small cattle producers.

"We don't have any competition," he said. "We're often, on the farm, presented with a scenario of 'take it or leave it' prices. We don't get to name our price, and oftentimes, we get shorted in the long run."

Bentlage cited some policies he thinks would make a big difference for producers across the nation -- from requiring meatpackers to purchase 50% of their supply from the cash market, rather than entering futures contracts, to reinstating a requirement that meat processers adhere to country-of-origin labeling. Industry groups oppose those reforms, saying they would have unintended consequences for supply and demand.

Patty Lovera, a policy adviser with the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, said this isn't a new problem, and while ranchers and consumers are missing out, the corporate middlemen are not.

"If you're a producer who's raised animals the right way -- they're grass-fed, or pasture-based, small-scale, humane -- it's harder and harder for those folks to get their products to market because big corporate meatpackers don't want to deal with them," she said. "They want to deal with factory farms that are cranking out huge numbers of animals."

She urged lawmakers not to let up on market competition reform. The renewed calls for action follow a recent White House report showing the larger meat-processing companies are recording massive profits amid inflation issues. Those companies counter that they're being made scapegoats as prices rise.