By STEVE BROWN

Capital Press

Keizer Meats, a 15-year-old USDA-inspected slaughter and meat processing facility in Whatcom County, Wash., is for sale.

The owners, George and Sherry Keizer, have said they want to pass ownership of the facility to a group of investors who will keep the operation running and growing.

Interested neighbors gathered at the Lynden Public Library July 14 to look into the possibility of forming a co-op or similar structure to do just that: Buy the plant and keep processing local beef.

Chandra Knaus, one of the organizers of the meeting, said 38 people showed.

"They represented different interests in buying local meat, selling local meat in local stores and restaurants, and some who just want to invest because they like to eat beef."

Knaus said her background is in marketing, and her husband's family owns one of the larger beef operations in the area. "There's a lot of beef acreage and a lot of beef people up here, many of them with only five or 10 head.

"There was a lot of passion at the meeting, with people talking about local and about community, getting local meat into schools, and people trying to figure out how it's going to work."

At the meeting, a steering committee of seven was formed "to do the work and the due diligence," Knaus said.

Jeff Voltz, project manager at the Northwest Agriculture Business Center, said he will help the steering committee evaluate the opportunity to establish a co-op or a limited-liability company.

"We've set a time line of sometime in October," he said. "October is a lofty goal."

Voltz said he has worked with Organic Valley and with Country Natural Beef, and he helped Okanogan tree fruit growers establish a co-op in 2006.