Locally Sourced Beef Reaches Pennsylvania Grocery Store Shelves, Benefits Are Two-Fold

Locally-grown beef officially hit store shelves at Karns Foods, a Pennsylvania grocery store chain, selling their first locally sourced and owned USDA premium Angus beef on July 5.

Pandemic-related supply chain issues fueled this idea for Karns Foods to privately source beef to its stores.

This idea has led to Karns Foods partnering with 19 local, Pennsylvania farms to raise beef cattle to be butchered and sold in all 10 store locations across the state.

“Most of our farmers were dairy farmers. They understand how to raise cattle, how to be a farmer but they didn’t have a product they could sell with the milk. Now they are raising cattle for us,” said Scott Karns, President of Karns Foods in a news article.

Karns adds, the benefit of locally sourced beef allows him to plan out the herd a year in advance, knowing the beef will always be available to him and his stores, without worrying about supply chain disruptions.

Increased consumer preference in buying local products also influenced Karn’s decision to tap this new market.

“It would be wonderful if it were the new norm for everything. I’m really a big believer in shopping local so anything that we could get from the surrounding community that helps us I think is a very good idea,” one community member says.

(Karns Foods)

The benefits of this program are two-fold, Karns describes in an article, as it provides consistent beef supply and keeps local farmers in business.

As of Dec. 2021, Karns had already committed 600 steers to the program.