PROJECT ON-FARM

TITLE OF THE CASE STUDY

Meat Butchery with vending machines (meat machines)

MAIN DATA OF THE COMPANY

Name of the Company

Farma Basařovi

Country

Type of the Company

Farming Activity

Direct selling way

SELF – INTRODUCTION OF THE FARMER

The Basař farm is a family farm in the Podkrkonoší region. It cultivates over 500 hectares of agricultural land, breeds over 200 cattle, produces electricity and heat in a biogas plant, runs a guesthouse, and provides agricultural services. It focuses mainly on cow breeding and subsequent beef production.

CHANGES / INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ADOPTED

The most important change, or innovation, was the establishment of our own meat butchery on the farm. Another innovative solution is the launch of a network of vending machines for our products (meat machines).

WHY AND HOW YOU DECIDED TO INTRODUCE  STRATEGY CHANGES / INNOVATIONS

In the beginning, the family was forced to slaughter and subsequently carve up their animals using the service of a company located 100 kilometers from the farm. After carving up the meat was moved to the farm, where they sold it from their fridge on a yard of the farm. Thus the customer had to physically come, find somebody in the yard, and then the sale of the meat happened. After some time they thought that through this way they’ll not sell enough products. Also, the final stage of handling over the meat was inefficient, because the customer must find somebody from the family in the yard, which interrupted members of the family from work on the farm. Because at the farm they didn’t have any opportunity to employ somebody, who could sell the products full-time, so they realized the final sale through “meat machines”. The Basařovi family finds a lot of positives in this solution. The final meat product is transported to the machine and they don’t have to care about things like opening hours of the shop, employees, and so on.

WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU MEET

The biggest obstacle was administrative in general. Basařovi had to deal with the requirements from the state veterinary administration, hygiene, building authority, and so on. Also, the neighbors were worried that the meat processing plant would disturb them because of the smell. It was difficult to explain that the smell will be very limited because when thinking about the meat processing plant, most of the people imagine large meat processing plants like “Kostelecké uzeniny” etc.

EVALUATION OF THE RESULTS

Basařovi evaluates the meat machine very positively. It doesn’t improve the products themselves by this innovation, but it helped the farm with the efficiency of their work. In the beginning, meat sold from the meat machine made approximately 75% of their income but currently the share because of the war in Ukraine and the general crisis is approximately 40%.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENT AND WHAT ARE THE PERSPECTIVES IN YOUR MIND

“If I could, I would prefer to realize the project more gradually.” This idea was further developed by the farm owner: “For example in the beginning I would make a smaller meat processing plant on the farm. But nobody could expect the current situation. In the beginning, the size of the meat factory was adequate, but due to the current decline in purchasing power it would be more reasonable to have the project on a smaller scale.”

FINAL SENTENCES

General Evaluation

In general, personal and entrepreneurial experiences are seen as positive by the farmer. Thanks to the wide range of entrepreneurial activities it can be seen how many things are connected together. Also, every day brings some new experiences, which can be used in the future even in seemingly unrelated activities.

Suggestions for other farmers

“It’s difficult to give a concrete answer. But in general, I’d recommend diverse income, seek possibilities to reduce expenses, and mainly hold when the situation isn’t going as you’ve planned.”