Farmers Union Begins Operation of Second Cooperative
By Kyle Vickers

Gateway Beef is a new Farmers Union project that has begun operations in the St. Louis area. The cooperative will focus on producing Certified Angus Beef (CAB), with an emphasis on CAB Prime Beef, a very valuable product in the restaurant and hotel market. The most tender and flavorful beef available, CAB Prime is also in demand around the world. The cooperative hopes to expand its markets to Europe and Japan eventually as their marketing and production system allows.

The project began out of studies done by Farmers Union and Family Farm Foods that showed a strong demand for high quality beef produced by family farmers. Consumers around the world are seeking beef from known sources, without unnecessary antibiotics or hormones. The Certified Angus Brand has done a tremendous job of promoting the value of a consistently tender and juicy meat cut.

As the consumer demand for quality product became more and more evident, a small group of Farmers Union producers found a slaughter plant available in the St. Louis area owned by a family with 70 years of experience in the meat industry and a pioneer in the CAB program. Owned by John Tarpov and his family, the plant had temporarily shut down last summer but was readily available for reopening. After months of study and planning, an agreement was reached with Mr. Tarpov to lease the plant and facilities and to hire John Tarpov to manage the marketing and cattle procurement side of the business. An experienced manager, Tom Gudykunst, was brought in from California to run the operations.

A further processing site in St. Louis will be used to continue to add value to the beef. At the second site, custom cutting and packaging will be done as the customer orders and storage and distribution of the final products. It is possible a retail outlet may be developed there as well. The ability to cut and package a quality product to the customers’ satisfaction is unique to projects of this size and unavailable from giant packers. This flexibility is essential to capture the high-end restaurant and food service market Gateway Beef Coop is targeting.

As meetings were held in Northeast Missouri last summer to introduce the plan to potential farmer members, the response was immediate and positive. Within a few weeks, commitments were given to ensure adequate capital to proceed and the final planning and preparation was completed. Within two weeks of announcing the fund drive, enough cash was raised to convince the board to proceed with operations as soon as possible. Nearly a million dollars was raised from about 65 producers and the operation was started in December 2002. Although the fund drive is complete and the membership closed until further notice, there may still be opportunities for investment if the board chooses to raise additional operating capital. Contact Rob Meyer, Board Chairman, 573-324-3716, or contact the Farmers Union office at 573-659-4787.

There is a lot of interest in beef cooperatives around the state and the staff of the Opportunity Center is investigating other opportunities for farmer owned processing that may be available. If you are interested, please contact the Farmers Union office.