Business booming for Osler meat processor as residents search for locally sourced food products

Pine View Farms co-owner Melanie Boldt says she can hardly remember what life was like before March 10.

In the last eight weeks, it has changed dramatically.

Prior to that day, the Osler-based farm-to-fork business had been filling about 85 orders per week for members of the public, some local butcher shops, and local restaurants.

Now, it’s averaging 200 orders per week. At its peak, there were nearly 300 orders per week.

Pine View Farms has been around for the last 22 years. Melanie and her husband Kevin raise chickens on the farm, and own a slaughtering/processing facility. They work with partner producers who raise steer, turkeys, hogs and lamb.

Over the last couple of years, Melanie says they lost some partner businesses because of a sluggish economy as many restaurants tightened their belts.

“At first when the lockdown started to happen, all of our restaurant accounts closed … but we were like, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re doomed. All our wholesale accounts are drying up. What’s going to happen?’ ” Boldt said. “What we didn’t really anticipate was the explosion in home deliveries and farm pickups.

“People really wanted to support local and also wanted to know where their food was coming from and that it was safe.”

She says when residents were told to stay home as much as possible due to COVID-19, and large grocery chains and stores began experiencing meat shortages, more customers began calling Pine View Farms and buying their products.

“That’s when our website just exploded and we probably doubled our online orders week on week. In fact, one week they were triple what we usually do,” she recalled.

The recent closure of the Cargill meat-processing facility in High River, Alta., and concerns at the JBS processing plant in Brooks, Alta., also contributed to a recent spike in online sales just last week. Now, she says they’re just keeping up.

“We are working our butts off,” Boldt said. “But I have to hand it to our staff who have gone above and beyond to really work hard and provide meat and do it in a safe way. We have implemented physical-distancing measures and extra cleaning protocols in our shop. So everything takes extra time, everything takes longer to do.”

Everything is also sanitized multiple times a day, including doors, work stations, computers and walls; staff are taking staggered breaks and walk through boot-dips to minimize cross contamination from various departments, and masks and gloves are always worn.

The increasing demand for locally produced meat also highlights something Boldt is passionate about: Keeping local food supply chains up and running. She says while Saskatchewan must export much of its product, there is also room for a parallel system for local producers.

“We’re not a huge plant by any means, but I think having those multiple distribution channels for anyone in business right now with COVID is a really good thing,” she said.

“We’ve also been advocates of regionalized food production systems. That is where we have small-scale plants around large urban centres that can feed the people who are there.”

Boldt adds that local food production can also provide connections and relationships, so customers can know where their food is coming from. It also creates local jobs, so more of that money is spent locally.

Right now, about 20 people work at Pine View Farms, with openings for several others needed in the near future.

“I think that locally owned businesses, small-scale entrepreneurs, are the backbone of any sustainable economy,” she said.