Missouri farmers try beef in a can as new product

ST. LOUIS -- As a five-decade livestock producer, Jim Farmer wants his son and two daughters to follow in his footsteps.

The 64-year-old livestock man hopes ready-to-eat beef -- in a can -- is the ticket.

Farmer has joined resources with about three dozen other beef producers, including his son and son-in-law, in creating a co-op expecting to initially process a combined 1,000 cattle a year into canned beef, then perhaps 10 times that number over time.

The specially built plant in Montgomery City, about 70 miles west of St. Louis, has begun production. Canned beef has hit the shelves in some Missouri stores, mostly in tiny towns. While it's too early to say what the demand is, if any, farmers like Farmer are thinking big.

"Our goal is to make an opportunity in agriculture for all of my descendants, if they choose," he said. "Something like this could help make that happen."

To the investors from five Missouri counties, consumers get precooked beef on the go, perfect for outdoor enthusiasts from hikers to hunters and anglers to campers. Given its shelf life of two to five years, the farmers say, the canned beef can be left in tackle boxes or storm shelters.

In return, folks behind the Heartland Farm Foods Co-op Inc. say, participating farmers get a consistent market for their beef while satisfying pent-up demand for the kind of commodity commonplace decades ago, before refrigeration.

"It's just another opportunity," Farmer said of the co-op that began processing in mid-December, a couple months after finishing construction of a 4,480-square-foot plant on 10 acres. "If there's no risk, there'll be no gain."

Just how much of a gain remains cloudy while the co-op and its cannery get on their feet. For now it's processing five cows a week.

No salt, no preservatives

Each animal produces about 400 to 500 cans of federally inspected beef from cattle exclusively raised without steroid and hormone additives or routine antibiotics, said Mark Uthlaut, the co-op's general manager.

"The unique thing about this product is there's only one ingredient -- beef. There isn't even salt," Uthlaut said.

No water. No preservatives. And to Uthlaut, no worries about the safety, given that the pressure-cooking, sterilizing canning process rids each can and its contents of harmful bacteria.

"It's completely safe," he said.

For now, Uthlaut says, the plant cranks out about 1,000 cans each of the two to three days the plant runs each week. The goal? Process 20 calves a week, amounting to about 9,000 cans.

The offerings are limited to ground beef and leaner chunk beef, each in 14-ounce cans. Plans are afoot for possibly eight- or nine-ounce versions.

He knows big things often begin with baby steps. For the time being, the co-op's canned beef can only be found in a few north-central Missouri grocery stores, as well as a handful of convenience stores.

Some retailers are asking $4.99 a can, though Uthlaut said the product could fetch $5.50 to $6. While such cost reflects the investment and could discourage some would-be buyers, "that's why it's so important to do the sampling and show the quality," he said.

"We're just getting started," Uthlaut said, looking to market the pop-top beef to the recreational market for campers, hunters, users of recreational vehicles and "anybody else who would be interested in something you could just heat and eat."

It's unclear how much of an appetite such offerings actually attract -- or how much consumers are willing to pay. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says its Economic Research Service keeps no nationwide figures on canned beef, including sales or the number of marketers. The Missouri Beef Industry Council has said it's unaware of any other beef canners, certainly not in Missouri.

The co-op has declined to discuss investment specifics, aside from expectations that construction and first-year operating capital would run close to $750,000, partly offset by grants.