By DEB BENTLY
Staff Writer
Dan Lewer and Chris Olson have not simply “taken over” the meat processing business located on South Ash Avenue in New Richland. They are in the process of transforming it.
Oh, it’s true that the business looks much the same, at least for now. It still offers the same long-standing services and products, and even has many of the same employees. Customers need have no concern their needs and interests are being met. But at the same time, bigger things are going on behind the scenes.
“We both have children who are devoted to agriculture,” observes Olson who, with Lewer, has been an owner and operator of Neighbor’s Meats since May 2021. “For the sake of our community and for the next generation, we want to be part of building a farm-to-table system that is sustainable for everybody.”
Both Olson and Lewer have close ties to the meat processing business: Lewer’s grandfather and uncle, Gerald and Keith Hullopeter, were owners of the business on South Ash Avenue in New Richland from the 1970s to the 1990s, and Olson’s grandparents worked for them.
Two generations later, the two families remain connected, with Olson and Lewer having been close friends and associates for more than 16 years, including most recently working together at the Hope Elevator. Both also continue to operate their respective family farms, one facet of which is raising beef cattle.
Both had long been aware that the current system of food distribution in the U.S. has too many “middle men.” Farmers would market their cattle to large processing plants, which, because they were buying in volume, paid a relatively low price for the animals. Farmers then paid to ship their cattle to the plants, where the large companies reportedly made significant profit for each pound returned to stores and distribution centers.
When the pandemic hit, the two felt practically slapped in the face by the many inequities. “The farmers are paid too little,” observes Olson, “while the customer is paying too much.”
And so the two decided to do something about all that.
Already a state-inspected facility qualified to process domestic and wild animals for individual customers, Neighbor’s Meats is looking to also become federally inspected, which means that it can process meat for sale to the general public. Due to food safety laws, the meat currently for sale across the facility’s counters underwent its earliest processing elsewhere, in federally inspected plants.
“We’re working toward a day,” says Olson, “when all the meat we sell has been raised by one set of our neighbors—local farmers—and is being sold to another set—our customers.
“If someone asks ‘Do you know where this meat was raised?’ we want to be able to answer, ‘Absolutely!’”
Already well acquainted with the food handling business, both have been steadily adding to their list of qualifications, acquiring various certifications. They have also been updating the facilities and equipment on Ash Avenue, gradually building toward meeting requirements for the federal certification which will serve as the foundation for the other elements of their plan.
The more one learns about it, the more rich and deep the meaning of the company name becomes. The two almost-brothers, each of whom operates an area farm with family roots at least a century deep, and both of whom have strong ties to the former Hullopeter Meats, are working toward a community-centered objective which will help bring “home” a fundamental element of the food distribution system. Rather than meat being shipped out of state for processing and then returned, they hope to be able to tell customers which one of their neighbors raised the food they are taking home to serve to their families.
Also a long-term goal for the company, once federal certification is in place, is to market meat to local stores and restaurants.
“It’s all about bringing things full circle,” says Lewer. “About bringing things back in a way that makes sense, and that keeps the money in the right pockets.”
“It’s very important to us to be part of this community,” observes Olson. “We want our customers to know we are doing more than is needed to assure their food is handled safely and to the highest standards. We also want everyone to understand we are neighbors working together to make our ‘neighborhood’ a better place…for everyone.
“We’re working to become a top-tier business with an emphasis on everything local.”