Florida Politics: Wilton Simpson tours Fort McCoy Meat, touts Farmers Feeding Florida beef program
by Peter Schorsch
Tuesday’s roundtable focused on the program’s next chapter.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson visited in Marion County and got a working-floor look at one of the state’s quieter success stories: the beef recovery arm of the Farmers Feeding Florida program.
Simpson toured Fort McCoy Meat, a Marion County processor that has emerged as a model partner in the state-funded initiative, and sat down with ranchers, processors, and Feeding Florida representatives to talk about what’s working — and how to scale it. The premise is uncomplicated: keep Florida’s food supply chain in-state, prevent good protein from going to waste, and route it to families who need it.
The numbers back the pitch. Over the past year, the program has recovered and distributed more than 756,000 pounds of Florida-raised beef — roughly 3 million servings of protein funneled to families through Feeding Florida’s nine-member food bank network and their pantry partners in every county in the state.
The flywheel is fully domestic. Florida ranchers raise the cattle. Florida processors, including Fort McCoy, grind the beef. Florida food banks distribute it. And every link in that chain gets reinforced as the volume grows — ranchers gain a consistent local buyer, processors gain the steady throughput they need to stay viable long-term, and communities gain access to high-quality, locally raised protein.
