WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) -- The Kansas Department of Agriculture saw an increased interest in locally raised food during COVID-19. Since then, it says the interest has remained. "COVID really brought out that local food interest a lot more because people were looking to logistics and getting our products where they needed to be," Russell Plaschka with the KDA said. "Folks were struggling to find what they wanted, whether it's meat, poultry, dairy, vegetables, whatever. So, that local food movement really became popular during COVID. So, we've seen an increase in people wanting to know and buy from local producers." The KDA says there has been more interest in small ranches marketing their meat directly to consumers. "I think people really took ahold of the idea, 'Hey, I know a producer down the road. I know somebody that raises beef, raises chicken or swine or whatever. I wonder if they would sell to me,'" Plaschka said. "It was two-fold. We had the public that was gaining interest in finding that local product, and then we had producers, some that were already doing direct to consumer, and some that realized, oh my gosh, I can sell to my neighbors. So that really sparked that interest and created momentum of understanding and knowing a producer and understanding how that food was grown and raised." Hunters shoot, kill federally protected pelicans in Kansas That led to increased meat processing plants and expansion of existing plants. The KDA is seeing an increase in the number of animals processed in custom and inspected plants. Overall, this increase in the number of plants has meant that they're hearing most of them are back to relatively normal wait times. "We're no longer two years out. We're maybe six months out from when you can get your animal processed," Plaschka said. "But really it was that local demand and also a lot of processors that came online and discovered a market here locally or another market for locally raised beef, pork or whatever." Plaschka says producers have found themselves to be educators, talking to people about how their animals are raised and fed, the different cuts of meat available, etc. "Now, instead of buying a pound of hamburger at the grocery store, they may be buying a quarter beef, half a hog or a pen of chickens from somebody," Plaschka said. Albertsons gives up on Kroger merger and sues the grocery chain for failing to secure deal At the start of 2020, KDA’s Meat and Poultry Inspection program had 48 and 38 custom-only licensed plants inspected. As of September 13, KDA’s Meat and Poultry Inspection program has 63 plants that have inspected processing, slaughter or both and 49 plants that operate under custom-only. That’s an increase of 26 plants in four years. Plaschka says the local food movement is also tied to farmers' markets. The KDA has seen more people consuming specialty livestock like lamb and goat. "Now, going to the local farmers' markets, meeting the producers face to face and being educated by the producer about how to prepare lamb or this cut of goat," Plaschka said. "We're seeing an increase in those specialty livestock as well as continually strong demand on the beef side as well as locally-raised pork." Direct-to-consumer allows producers to control their markets more and build relationships with consumers. They can maintain prices at a more consistent level without fluctuating as much. "The producer understanding what the consumer wants and consumer understanding more about how the animals are raised, and really it's that profit back to producer as well, keeping the money local, that circular economy," Plaschka said. "The direct-to-consumer is able to see a little bit higher profit and able to maintain that price based on quality, and consumers understand where that product is coming from and trust that producer, and therefore, they may pay just a little bit more." The Medicine Lodge Meat Company opened in 2023, and rancher Marcine Moldenhauer says it has been helpful for her business and other producers in the area. It is a federally inspected plant that opens the door to new opportunities across state lines. "We not only can sell our locker beef and promote it to local customers, but also we have some customers in California and some other states, which this allows us to go ahead and ship across state lines because it's federally inspected," Moldenhauer said. "Prior to now, we were pretty much limited to Kansas, and we didn't have any other opportunities that were close to us to even be able to consider reaching out and speaking out to other customers that had shown interest or that we knew from cattle shows or college or whatever. And so this plant is really a godsend for not just us, but a lot of producers who have longed to be able to create their own brand and ship internet or otherwise." She says this brings in money from out of state and generates revenue locally. Overall, she says ranchers are passionate about what they do. "I think mostly that if they want to buy from local producers, there's a lot of us out there, and we want to service their needs," Moldenhauer said. "And I know that there's several different websites in Kansas that you can go to to find different producers. Four-H clubs normally know who is producing locker beef and whether it's in-state, in this region or out-of-state. All of us want people to be happy with the beef or the meat that they buy and feel good about what they're getting."