Arkansas State University, in partnership with Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry (AHFH) and the Arkansas Farm Bureau, unveiled on Wednesday a $750,000 upgrade to its College of Agriculture Meat Market and Lab. The expansion, funded through a grant from the Arkansas Office of Skills Development, will boost efforts to fight food insecurity by producing shelf-stable venison snack sticks for food-insecure children.
These snack sticks, created from donated deer, are incorporated into school backpack programs providing weekend meals for children who might otherwise go without meat when school-provided meals are unavailable. Ronnie Ritter, executive director of AHFH, highlighted the demand for the nutritious snacks. “I get a call nearly every week from a new school asking for these sticks to add to their backpack programs,” Ritter said. “They can get cereals and canned goods, but shelf-stable meat is an extremely hard need to fill.”
Last year, the organization distributed 172,000 snack sticks, with 128,000 produced from deer donated through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's (AGFC) Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). The snack sticks, made from ground venison, can be stored without refrigeration, making them a practical option for distribution to children.
Jeremy Brown, who coordinates the AGFC’s DMAP, explained the dual benefit of the program. “We have the demand, we have a lot of hunters willing to donate deer, and we also have the biological need to harvest the deer and balance local deer herds,” Brown said. Managing deer populations effectively often requires hunters to harvest more animals—particularly does—to maintain a healthy buck-to-doe ratio.
To meet rising demand, Brown and Ritter have partnered with DMAP clubs to host special hunts. Ritter anticipates producing 200,000 snack sticks this year. “We’re already ahead of last year’s deer club donations,” he said. “Now, the real limiting factor is the cost and capacity to process the sticks, and this expansion at A-State will help keep as much of that processing within the state as possible.”
Corey Readnour, director of the upgraded meat lab at Arkansas State University, stated that the facility will have the capacity to process nearly 200,000 snack sticks annually, provided adequate storage is available for donated meat. In addition to supporting food pantries and school backpack programs, the initiative provides hands-on vocational training for students working in the lab.
Liam McGregor, an Arkansas State student employed in the lab, said the program’s community impact motivated him to take the job. “Knowing how much it would help the community and give back was a big reason I wanted to take the job,” McGregor said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Arkansas hunters can donate deer to AHFH through participating processors and support the program by donating toward processing costs when purchasing hunting licenses. For more information, visit www.arkansashunters.org.