Informational meeting to explore the prospect of tapping the ethnic meat market is Saturday.

Connie Hopp stood alongside a fence near a barn on the family farm in Belknap Township. The field was empty until Connie called lamb from the building. One-by-one, heads started appearing in the doorway until there were three looking out. They all were wondering which direction to follow the voice. ` Once they figured out where the person who cares for them and feeds them was, they ventured from the building and walked over to where she was standing. Eventually there were a dozen in the field.

Hopp has been raising lamb for 10 years, and would have more, if it were easier to sell the animals at the end of the season. ?If you have quite a few, you have to make two trips or get a bigger trailer,? she said.

THE HOPPS started raising lamb as a 4-H project. After a rocky beginning, she was able to find a market for the specialty meat from within the large Arab population in southeast Michigan. Around 20 million pounds of lamb products are consumed in southeast Michigan every year. If an ethnic meat processing plant, as has been proposed, is started in Rogers City ?It would be easier to get rid of them when they get bigger,? said Hopp.

Two informational meetings hosted by the Presque Isle County Development Commission and Michigan State University Extension are scheduled on Saturday for northeast Michigan agriculture producers. The first me

eting is in Oscoda, with the second at the Presque Isle District Library, Rogers City. The meeting will be in the Constance Jordan Conference Room from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. According to CDC director Bill Valentine, specialty meats are one of the fastest growing markets in the food industry. He invited producers to learn how this proposal may benefit their livestock operation. Of the 4,000 to 6,000 animals consumed every month in southeast Michigan, the great majority of them come from outside of the state. ?We would like to implement a Buy Michigan effort to get some of that business for our farmers,? said Valentine.

THE PROPOSAL is to establish a cooperative of farmers to produce more lamb meat in Presque Isle County, and around the region, and to also operate a meat processing plant in Rogers City. The process plant would be a value-added part. If a processing plant were established in Presque Isle County, the costs would be lower, giving area farmers a price advantage. In addition, there would be added jobs for 20 to 30 people. ?Another price advantage with this business model is that a cooperative is basically a non-profit operation with the proceeds being shared among the members,? said Valentine. ?The idea of a food processing cooperative is not new; just look at what a major brand such as Land-O-Lakes has done with the concept. We want to do the same thing with Crescent City Specialty Meats.? For more information contact the CDC at 734-8446, or bring questions to the meeting.