4-17-06

DEMAND FOR GOAT MEAT SEEN AS OPPORTUNITY FOR IOWA PRODUCERS

Goat meat is the most consumed meat in the world. The demand for goat meat in the United States outstrips the domestic supply. Demand also is growing in Iowa as immigrants from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America move into the state.

In a two-year project funded in February 2005 by the Leopold Center, researchers are assessing the demand for goat meat among immigrants living in the Sioux City area. They also are exploring ways to connect producers and consumers of goat meat. Betty Wells, sociology professor and extension sociologist, leads the project. Wells also is involved in a feasibility study of the rural development benefits of goat browsing to control invasive vegetation in the Loess Hills of western Iowa.
 

For more information, contact:

• Rich Pirog, Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu

• Betty Wells, ISU Sociology, (515) 294-1104, bwells@iastate.edu

• Mary Holz-Clause, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, (515) 294-0648, mclause@iastate.edu

• Dan Morrical, ISU Animal Science, (515) 294-0847, morrical@iastate.edu

• Laura Miller, Leopold Center communications, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

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