Andy Shaw, President of Cypress Valley Meats and award-winning processor, died on September 3 at the age of 43. He was a board member of the Missouri Association of Meat Processors and recently won the AAMP Accomplishment Award at the association’s annual convention last month. He was unable to attend the event due to a COVID-19 illness. MAMP announced his death on the association's Facebook page.

In October of 2010, Cypress Valley Meat Company opened its first location at 1326 Highway 64 in Vilonia, Arkansas. The facility was exclusively for deer processing and deer summer sausage. The company has since expanded into other operations and facilities. Cypress Valley works with about 900 farmers to process beef, pigs or poultry. Those farmers then take those products and find distribution channels for them, either through foodservice distribution, farmers’ markets or e-commerce.

In a 2020 interview, Shaw discussed the way that the company had handled and prospered in the COVID outbreak.

“We pride ourselves in being a strategic partner for the farmer,” Shaw said, adding that the consumer’s turn toward small processors had sped up Cypress Valley’s growth.

“Some people buy meat from a new service and had a great experience, and it exposes that customer to a whole new product that they wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Shaw says. “I see an opportunity to decentralize the meat supply by buying it local. This has advanced the niche food industry by 10 years.”

Shaw was the recipient of the AAMP Accomplishment Award, which was established to recognize up-and-coming AAMP members who have made strides in the meat industry.

For memorial and funeral information, click here. To read the Independent Processor interview with Andy, click here.

Source: Roller-McNutt Funeral Home