Grass-fed Meat from Wal-Mart?

This is an article that I wrote for www.beginningfarmers.org

The other day I read a particularly thought-provoking post on the blog Honest Meat (Note: this post was removed by the author, I don't yet know why. Cached version here.). The post discussesed the entrance of a new competitor into the local and pasture-based foods market in Northern California. The new entrant, Belcampo Meat Co, is a 10,000 acre, vertically integrated farm focused on producing a wide variety of pastured meats. It also happens to be owned by Outpost International, which appears to be funded by at least one very wealthy individual (Todd Robinson). It’s not exactly Wal-Mart, but based on Wal-Mart’s recent moves it’s only a matter of time.

Small farms could never compete with the marketing prowess and enormous scale of such a competitor, right?

This article is not about whether Belcampo’s (or Wal-Mart’s) actions are right or wrong, it’s about how you, the small family farmer, can prepare your business for the realities of competing with large, well-funded businesses.

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Occupied Wall Street: So You Say You Want A Revolution?

Occupied Wall Street Journal published by the protesters in Zuccotti Park, NYC

Yesterday, before we embarked on a crowded-kitchen cheesemaking home-brewing bonanza, we decided to go check out this little protest you may have heard of: Occupy Wall Street. We're only two trains and a couple subways stops away, so why not see what it's all about firsthand?

The current fragility of the world economic system combined with worldwide dissatisfaction for how our leaders are managing the situation is leading to historic times across the world. It may take some time and it may not be as dramatic as some people would expect, but I think this mini-revolution has some steam and there’s a good chance that some permanent change is made. One thing is apparent, there is broad disenfranchisement with how we’re represented in this democracy of ours. There's plenty of similiarities stretching from the disconnect between Wall St and the population and Industrial Ag and the population and I'd venture to guess that we'll see more civil unrest in the future, not less. 

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Farm Hopping: Meat & Cheese at Nature's Harmony Farm


Cows Grazing at Nature's Harmony

It’s hard to believe the trip to Georgia was almost six months ago. Now that fall has officially arrived springtime seems long ago and far away.

Along our farm journey we’ve made certain to visit as many farms as possible, many of which we’ve been profiling in our Farm Hopping series. One of the most exciting visits (for us personally, not because something exploded or we won the lottery or anything) was our trip down to Nature’s Harmony. Ever since we got all wrapped up in this farming stuff we’ve been fans of Tim and Liz Young, who run the show down in Elberton, GA. They always struck us as a little bit different and I always admired their ability to ask “why?” when they started farming. Some people view their questioning of current farm practices as being a bit presumptuous, but I always found it inspiring. It takes a lot of courage to challenge an industry that is so well rooted in its practices.

So, Who is Nature’s Harmony Farm?

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