ASU Expands Lab for Venison Snack Sticks
A $750,000 Jonesboro meat lab expansion aims to help Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry produce shelf-stable venison snack sticks for food-insecure students.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Hunting
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Arkansas State University unveiled a $750,000 expansion of its College of Agriculture Meat Market and Lab to produce shelf-stable venison snack sticks. The snack sticks are distributed to children from food-insecure families through weekend backpack programs run by Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry.
Why it matters
Processing capacity has been the main limit on the snack stick program, which previously relied on a facility in Missouri for most of its output. Local processing in Jonesboro could expand how many sticks reach Arkansas families.
Last year the organization provided 172,000 snack sticks, and 128,000 of them came from deer clubs enrolled in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Deer Management Assistance Program. The organization hopes to produce 200,000 sticks this year, but the source does not say whether the new lab will reach that volume.
The players
Arkansas State University
A public university in Jonesboro whose College of Agriculture operates the meat market and lab that is being expanded to produce venison snack sticks.
Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry
A nonprofit that distributes donated venison to food pantries and runs the weekend backpack snack stick program for food-insecure students.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
The state wildlife agency whose Deer Management Assistance Program enrolls deer clubs that supplied most of last year's snack stick meat.
The details
Deer clubs work with Game and Fish biologists to manage herds and harvest more does than members want to process, and some clubs host special hunts to meet snack stick demand. The $750,000 project was funded through a grant from the Arkansas Office of Skills Development.
Timeline
Last year: 172,000 snack sticks distributed to families.
Past few years: Brown and Ritter coordinated special hunts with hunting clubs.
November 2026: ASU unveiled the meat market and lab expansion.
This year: organization targets 200,000 snack sticks.
Roadmap
The snack stick effort extends the Deer Management Assistance Program, which pairs deer clubs with Game and Fish biologists to keep herds healthy. Routing harvested deer into food assistance adds a second purpose to herd management in Arkansas.
Jonesboro residents may see local hunting clubs and food-assistance programs expand as the processing lab comes online. Families in food-insecure households could receive more snack sticks through weekend backpack programs.
The takeaway
Local processing capacity, not deer supply, is the main constraint on feeding more families through hunter-donated meat. Readers interested in supporting similar efforts can watch how the 200,000-stick goal is met.
Further reading
For more on the hunting programs behind this effort, see Hunting coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by ArkansasOnline.
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