Meat prices could rise as much as 8 percent next year because of the drought.

Watching Gus Wessling, 22, carve a full shoulder of meat at the Community Mercantile is like observing an artist at work. The large razor-edged knife is swift and sure in his hands. He trims the fat, cuts deftly around bone, removes smaller chunks and sets them aside for later mincing. Nothing is wasted.

“I take great pride in my work,” he says. “I like to think I’m an artistic tradesman in the European tradition of the market butcher.”

He learned the rudiments of the craft while working in construction.

Wessling was born in Grandview, Mo., the youngest of five children, and grew up in Louisburg. His father, a pharmaceutical plant manager, insisted his children work hard.

“He told us hard work would get us places,” Wessling says. “During my senior year in high school I worked part-time for a construction company that built the first cement houses in Louisburg. It was exciting being involved in a new, environmentally friendly venture.”

He loved being outside and had great mentors, including the project’s painting contractor, Ken Smith.

“Ken emphasized the importance of taking pride in my work and painting houses with great care and attention,” Wessling says. “He also owned a ranch with large herds of deer that became an important food source for him and his neighbors. I learned some of the skills involved in local butchering there.”

Wessling wanted to know more.

“I began researching Hugh Fearnley’s work to help me understand the process of raising and preparing animals for food,” Wessling says.

Celebrity chef, environmentalist, journalist and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is well-known in his native England for his commitment to the ethical production of food. He’s passionate about ensuring the process of producing food for the table is ethical and organic.

Wessling was inspired and intrigued by Fearnley’s work and pored over works..

“Fearnley’s ‘River Cottage Cookbook’ hooked me,” he says. “I refer to it all the time. I brought it with me when I moved to Lawrence in 2006 to live near my two sisters and brother who’ve settled here.”

He’s enrolled in Johnson Community College and is planning to attend Kansas University to earn an environmental studies degree. When a vacancy arose in the Merc’s meat and fish department in 2007, he applied.

“I was thrilled to get the job,” he says. “The department manager, Rick Marquez, was very cultured and a great mentor. He trained me well, and I was happy to find the Merc’s food philosophy was in tune with many of Fearnley’s principles.”

He questioned Marquez constantly about the best butchering practices and learned everything he could about meat and fish: where they came from, how they’d been raised and caught, and about endangered species.

“I wanted to be the best artistic tradesman I could be and learn the trade and skills in the manner of the Europeans who take great pride in their butchers’ skills,” he says. “I tried to learn everything I could about producing the highest quality of food for customers.