Have you ever eaten goat meat before? If not, have you ever asked yourself why? Three Darr School of Agriculture faculty members at Missouri State University believe they have the answer, as well as solutions to solve the problem. Dr. Benjamin Onyango, Dr. Elizabeth Walker and Dr. Melissa Remley each specialize in several areas of goat farming, including marketing, production and processing.
“We have brought this team of people from across disciplines together to address a larger problem,” said Onyango, associate professor of agriculture. “There’s a large gap between the demand for goat meat in this country and what we are actually producing. We are hoping to help fill this gap.”
Where’s the beef?
Goat meat consumption currently exceeds production in the U.S., with 90 percent being imported from places such as Australia and New Zealand. With a recent grant from the USDA totaling more than $540,000, the team hopes to aid producers with limited resources in improving their techniques, and therefore production, through education.
“This is an important grant because goat meat is the most consumed meat in the world,” said Walker, associate professor of agriculture. “People usually assume it’s beef, but when you look at religious and cultural preferences around the world, goat is actually much more consumed, especially in developing nations.”
For a long time, the domestic supply of goats was based off of a wild supply that formed from those that had escaped when North America was first being settled. Now, goats are being imported not only for their meat but for their genetics.
“There has also been importing of boer goats and other types that are more heavily muscled,” said Walker. “Better genetics and more ethic consumers are what are currently driving the market.”
How do we improve supply?
Though a negative social stigma and lack of access stand in the way of many consumers, the team has some ideas of how to break through these barriers.
“We’re assessing our state industry, what kind of producers we have and what they need,” said Remley, assistant professor of agriculture. “By doing this, we can figure out if they are struggling from a marketing standpoint, if production facilities are too far away, if they don’t have the right foliage for the goats, the list goes on.”
After the team discovers what the major underlying problem behind goat production in Missouri is, it will have another issue to tackle: how to educate farmers.
“Once we’ve addressed the major problems with production, then we have to figure out how to produce information that farmers can understand and share amongst themselves,” said Onyango. “The disconnect between consumption and production is very vast right now, so it will be a big challenge.”
The project team will work with other experts from Lincoln and Fort Valley State universities for three years.
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-70001-24640. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.