Foxborough Farm Ready To Support Community Amid Meat Shortage

FOXBOROUGH, MA — The new coronavirus pandemic has created meat shortages at grocery stores across the United States.

Large-scale meat suppliers across the country have faced COVID-19 outbreaks at their slaughterhouses and other facilities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, twenty workers have died and nearly 4,200 meatpackers at 115 processing plants tested positive for the new coronavirus.

As this reality sets in, local farmer Terri Lawton said she's ready to support the community and provide people an alternative to store-bought meat.

Lawton owns Oake Knoll Farms in Foxborough and has about 20 cows. She sells beef, milk and cheese at her farm stand and also orders eggs from other farms. As the impending meat shortage hits Massachusetts, Knoll said she's well stocked on beef and dairy products and is ready for more customers.

"I hope the shortages bring more customers to us," Lawton said. "We love the community and being a part of the town ... "We definitely appreciate our customers, and we definitely can handle more."

So far, the pandemic hasn't affected Lawton's ability to bring animals to a slaughterhouse. Her biggest challenges have been getting packaging for her products and getting fresh eggs delivered.

Lawton said she's also been hampered by the loss of sales at farmers markets and employees out sick. She said the farm is doing fine though, and she's happy her employees are prioritizing their health.

"We had some staff that were sheltering in place because of health issues." Lawton said. "We’re down some staff, which is fine. We just couldn't do as much as we could. We've been relying on people coming here more"

As Lawton relies on these new customers coming to the farm, she's trying to build relationships that last beyond the new coronavirus pandemic. She's hopeful people will see the difference in her grass-fed beef when compared to what's at the grocery store.

"We're planning for when things open up and for building more relationships, Lawton said. "Our hope is that we can maintain the relationships and that people recognize the quality is so much higher than it is at the grocery store."