Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., a speaker at the National Farmer’s Union Annual Convention held in downtown Oklahoma City this week, visited with Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays about the Cherokee Nation’s 12,000 sq./ft. meat processing facility located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
The facility really “beefed” up production during the COVID pandemic. “It was born out of what we all experienced, which was a bottleneck in terms of meat,” Hoskin said. “That was at a time during the pandemic when we were not only all trying to feed ourselves, but as the Cherokee Nation, we were trying to meet some of the needs of a lot of elders who needed to stay inside so they would be safe.”
Hoskin and other Cherokee leaders decided that there was no better time to step fully into an industry that they had already been considering. Utilizing funds from the CARES Act, the nation invested in the small processing facility.
“It has created some jobs and opportunities to have some local producers bring in their product, including us, we have a small cattle operation,” he said. “Then, it has allowed us to distribute that product to things like our elder programs and our programs for kids. Those are the things that I think we ought to be doing in the Cherokee nation.”
The facility was named 1839 Cherokee Meat Co. in reminiscence of the conclusion of the Trail of Tears and the optimism the Nation felt as they rebuilt on new lands.
Primarily, the facility markets to the Cherokee Nation’s food distribution programs. “We are really buying from ourselves, but before we started doing that, we were seeing some success selling locally,” Hoskin shared. “I think the future is branded beef that people want to see in stores with the Cherokee label, so I think that is the next step. The evolution is to make sure that we have a high-end product that will be sought after regionally and around the country.”
Cherokee branded beef is currently available to be purchased at the facility with the goal of building a reputation through consumer confidence.
Through the PRIME Act, the Cherokee Nation hopes to assume regulatory responsibility for the products it is producing. “We regulate in other spaces; there is no reason we can’t regulate in that space,” Hoskin stated. “USDA is essentially signing an agreement with us for us to do that in our own facility. That will free up resources from the USDA. It will allow us to lean into our own expertise with the capacity to regulate, and I think that is the future and what ought to be in the final farm bill.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show, and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
