Small Scale Meat

Today British Columbia’s Small-Scale Meat Producers Association (SSMPA) and LiteFarm announced a partnership to design and build a digital livestock management module addressing the challenges specific to small-scale meat production in Canada and around the world. Together, the groups will expand on the existing LiteFarm free and open-source platform to ensure that small-scale meat producers and integrated livestock and crop operations have access to digital tools that can support them to run their operations more effectively and efficiently.

The Small-Scale Meat Producers Association represents British Columbia farmers and ranchers who are raising meat outside of the conventional, industrial system. Their mission is to build greater stability and growth opportunities for small-scale meat producers in British Columbia.

LiteFarm is a free and open source farm management platform developed by a team of farmers, scientists, and software and design professionals housed at the UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. The software was created for current and aspiring sustainable farmers with a core focus on accessibility and ease of use. The platform is currently being employed on more than 700 Canadian farms and by more than 4,200 users in 144 countries.

SSMPA  will work closely with the LiteFarm team to ensure the module satisfies the many unique challenges of managing livestock on small scale operations. Using rapid prototyping and feedback sessions, SSMPA members will have regular opportunities to view, evaluate, and provide feedback on the evolution of the LiteFarm platform and to join existing feedback groups consisting of farmers from more than 10 countries.

This partnership will build on work funded by the Royal Bank of Canada Tech for Nature grant and Inter-American Fund.

Stay tuned by following LiteFarm on Facebook or Linkedin and SSMPA on Instagram or Facebook and by becoming a member. Until next time, happy farming!