During #NationalPicnicMonth, we highlight Clear Springs, a valued customer of Farm Credit of Central Florida. Based in Bartow, Florida, Clear Springs produces and packages fresh blueberries, strawberries and grape tomatoes. Watch to learn more about this thriving operation ⬇️ 🍓 https://lnkd.in/eigxKghr
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While many people can conjure up romantic visions of a Montana ranch — vast valleys, cold streams, snow-capped mountains — few understand what happens when the cattle leave those pastures. Most of them, it turns out, don’t stay in Montana. Even here, in a state with nearly twice as many cows as people, only around 1 percent of the beef purchased by Montana households is raised and processed locally, according to estimates from Highland Economics, a consulting firm. As is true in the rest of the country, many Montanans instead eat beef from as far away as Brazil. Here’s a common fate of a cow that starts out on Montana grass: It will be bought by one of the four dominant meatpackers — JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Marfrig — which process 85 percent of the country’s beef; transported by a company like Sysco or US Foods, distributors with a combined value of over $50 billion; and sold at a Walmart or Costco. Any ranchers who want to break out from this system — and, say, sell their beef locally, instead of as anonymous commodities crisscrossing the country — are Davids in a swarm of Goliaths. “The beef packers have a lot of control,” said Neva Hassanein, a University of Montana professor who studies sustainable food systems. “They tend to influence a tremendous amount throughout the supply chain.” For the nation’s ranchers, whose profits have shrunk over time, she said, “It’s kind of a trap.” Cole Mannix is trying to escape that trap. Like members of his family have since 1882, he grew up ranching: baling hay, helping to birth calves, guiding cattle into the high country on horseback. He wants to make sure the next generation, the sixth, has the same opportunity. So, in 2021, Mannix co-founded Old Salt Co-op, a company that aims to upend the way people buy meat. While many Montana ranchers sell their calves into the multibillion-dollar industrial machine when they’re less than a year old, never to see or profit from them again, Old Salt’s livestock never leave the company’s hands. The cattle are raised by Old Salt’s four member ranches, slaughtered and processed at its meatpacking facility, and sold through its ranch-to-table restaurants, community events and website. The ranchers, who have ownership in the company, profit at every stage. It would have been much simpler for Old Salt to open just a meat processing facility, as some ranchers have, and not bother with restaurants and events. But Mannix said that would not have addressed the other issue that ranchers face: difficulty accessing distributors and customers. “It doesn’t matter if you have a nice processing facility if you can’t sell the product,” he said. “You can’t rebuild the food system by just throwing a bunch of money at one component of that food system.
Montana Has More Cows Than People. Why Are Locals Eating Beef From Brazil?
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Vice President, Marketing | Brand Building, General Management, Talent Development, Innovation, Sustainability
Since its founding, the NUTRO brand has been committed to providing pets and pet parents with high-quality, nutrient-rich pet food. Growing healthy ingredients depends on healthy soil, and yet the health of soil is in crisis. In fact, we are losing the equivalent of a soccer field of soil every 5 seconds. Almost a year ago, NUTRO launched the GREATER GROUND initiative to support growers in their transition to adopting healthy soil practices on their farms. While growers are the heroes of this battle, it will take a collective effort to drive true change. That’s why today I’m excited to share the launch of Tail of Two Farms, our new campaign to engage pet parents on the importance of healthy soil practices. To protect the soil for generations to come, we need to get people to care about it, we need people to understand why soil matters. Sometimes a light-hearted story is the best way to do this! A modern fable, Tail of Two Farms, brings to life the importance of healthy soil through the experiences of two lovable pets, breaking down this complex topic to help pet parents connect with this issue in an emotional way. If you share our cause, view and share the story. For each view of the video, $1 – up to a total of $300,000 – will go to our 2024 GREATER GROUND Soil Growth Grants to help select growers implement healthy soil practices. https://lnkd.in/eX4BxD8J #ProudlyMars #TailOfTwoFarms #Nutro #GreaterGround Adam Hardie, Jean-Paul Jansen, Alanna McDonald, Michael Hindman, Shelby Shelton, Stacey Shaw, Lisa Campbell, Nicole Serr, Paul Gardner, Anthony Guerrieri, Helen Warren-Piper, Nicholas Camu, Aurelie Thong, Kerrita McClaughlyn (She/Her), Kristin Ohaus, Lindsey Narta Kornegay, Laura Overton, Heidi Koester Oliveira, Marika McCauley Sine, Melissa Hinds, Christine Zinker, Drew Mitchell, Luke M. Hopkins, Mark McGinn, Melinda Zohfeld, Marianna Ruiz, Steven Lovern, Chelsea Hawkins, Raymond Hauserman, Bernardo Gómez, Armando Zuniga, Denise Sante
Tail of Two Farms
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Sustainable Savings: The Benefits of Buying in Bulk with Sundance Farm & Ranch 🐮 🌱 In today's fast-paced world, finding ways to save time, money, and support sustainability is more important than ever. Enter Sundance Farm & Ranch, where buying in bulk isn't just about convenience – it's a win-win for your wallet and the planet. Here's why purchasing beef shares in bulk from Sundance Farm & Ranch makes sense: 1. Cost Savings: Buying in bulk allows you to take advantage of lower prices per pound compared to purchasing individual cuts. At Sundance Farm & Ranch, our beef shares range from 90 to 360 lbs, offering significant savings for families or individuals looking to stock up on high-quality grass-fed beef without breaking the bank. 💰 2. Reduced Packaging Waste: By purchasing in bulk, you're minimizing the amount of packaging materials used per pound of beef. This translates to less waste ending up in landfills and fewer resources consumed in the packaging process. At Sundance Farm & Ranch, we're committed to reducing our environmental footprint, and buying in bulk aligns with our values of sustainability and conservation. ♻ 3. Convenience: With beef shares from Sundance Farm & Ranch, you'll always have a freezer stocked with premium grass-fed beef, ready to cook whenever you need it. Say goodbye to last-minute trips to the grocery store or settling for lower-quality meat – with bulk purchasing, you'll have peace of mind knowing you have delicious, locally sourced beef on hand whenever hunger strikes. 📫 4. Supporting Local Agriculture: When you buy in bulk from Sundance Farm & Ranch, you're not only investing in high-quality, sustainably raised beef – you're also supporting local farmers and ranchers in your community. As a veteran-owned small business, we're proud to contribute to the local economy and provide opportunities for our neighbors to enjoy wholesome, nutritious food. 👨🌾 At Sundance Farm & Ranch, we believe that buying in bulk isn't just about saving money – it's about making a positive impact on the environment and supporting sustainable farming practices. Join us in our mission to promote regenerative agriculture and enjoy the benefits of buying in bulk today! Contact me today for special deals or ask any further questions. 😁 https://lnkd.in/eaBbFfGN #regenerativeagriculture #grassfed #sustainableagriculture #cleanfuture #fooddelivery #bulkbuy #beefcattle #investinyourhealth
Starter Beef Share (25+ lbs.) Deposit
sundancetx.com
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Follower of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ | Environmental Strategic Initiatives | Donald J. Trump for President 2024 | Navigating Policy and Advocacy
The goal should be #resourcerecovery instead of #wastedisposal and land application. The valuable components like protein and fat can and should be recovered. Why aren't they doing that now? The chemical coagulants like alum and ferric denature the sludge and make 3 times more of it. Food and beverage manufacturers end up with millions of gallons of inconsistent, nutrient "bloated", heavy metal laden wastewater semi solids that they are forced to spend millions disposing of at great cost to the environment, the bottom line, and public opinion. Why? The solution to eliminating DAF solid disposal begins in treatment. Reducing operational expenses along with a big problem doesn't require equipment upgrades or additional chemical cost, just common sense and the will to change course . #nontoxic #rareearth #innovation #wastewatertreatment #poultry #pork #beef #seafood #meatindustry
Follower of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ | Environmental Strategic Initiatives | Donald J. Trump for President 2024 | Navigating Policy and Advocacy
Maryland DAF #Sludge "After several Carroll residents testified at a public hearing Thursday about unbearable odors, bugs, and excess dust coming into their homes from nearby farms that store byproducts from a process called dissolved air flotation, or DAF, commissioners voted unanimously for an immediate moratorium on the practice, until at least Dec. 31." “We moved here 11 years ago to our little farm,” she said. “We have beef cattle there and have loved living here in a beautiful part of Carroll County with farming all around us. About three years ago, the farmer who rents the [field] across from us, started applying the material that we have come to know as DAF. “I still remember the first time we smelled the stench, and I complained to my husband,” she said. “We both knew it wasn’t cow or chicken manure. … It seems that the first season we were grossed out by the smell and there were days that we didn’t want to go outside. But since that first season, it seems the farmer has been using the fields as a dumping ground rather than a farming field.” “I want to thank everyone for coming to us with what are understandable concerns,” District 1 Commissioner Joe Vigliotti said. “Thank you for helping us to better understand the situation. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve smelled it on more than one occasion myself, and I cannot begin to imagine how it is living next to it.” The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an independent conservation organization based in Maryland, has been sounding the alarm about DAF that’s stored on many Maryland farms. “DAF industrial sludge is the leftovers that remain after protein and other organic materials are processed in poultry, seafood, or livestock rendering plants, sometimes by skimming off solids that float to the top of treatment tanks by a technique called Dissolved Air Flotation or ‘DAF.’ Rendering companies … supply some waste to the pet food market. But the residuals — a highly liquid mix of water and remaining materials like blood, feathers, and other unused bits — create the DAF,” the foundation states on its website. District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein questioned Heyn on what can be done with DAF that is already stored on agricultural land. He questioned how the county can order . “It’s about the odor and the disgust of it all,” he said. “The sooner we can get rid that the better we are.” Heyn said he was not sure and would look into it for further discussion. “I only wish we could have done something sooner, or would have done something sooner,” he said. “You could have enjoyed or had maybe an extra spring or summer there of not being locked up in your homes.”
As residents complain of strong odors, Carroll officials pass moratorium on DAF storage
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Retail, Foodservice & Wholesale SME / Produce Industry Veteran / Relationship Builder / Writer & Columnist / Connector
Louisiana Crawfish (not crayfish) and Implications to #freshproduce Understanding the impacts and domino effects the disastrous forecast for the 2024 Louisiana crawfish season will have across the food sector not only in Louisiana but across the Gulf Coast region due to last summers incredible drought and excessive heat which persisted throughout the summer are not limited to fisheries only. In fact, 99% of the state of Louisiana is still in an excessive drought although some recent relief has been felt...but it is too late to help crawfish production for this season. Consider, the annual crawfish crop in Louisiana is valued at $300 million. In 2024, it is forecast that the value of the crop will be less than half and possibly even worse before its over. The season generally runs from January through May, peaking around Easter each year. More than 90,000 acres of crawfish ponds have been impacted based on LSU AgCenter estimates. Each year in January #retailers and #foodservice operators gear up for the big push for crawfish demand, with Mardi Gras season being a big part of that initial surge in demand. Then continuing to build through Spring and culminating by the end of May (mostly around Mothers Day) In the planning to sell fresh Louisiana crawfish for boiling are many other items including potatoes, onions, lemons, garlic, corn, mushrooms, brussels sprouts and even items such as carrots and cauliflower are not uncommon in a crawfish boil along with a combination of sausages are all typical ingredients in a pot full of boiled crawfish. If you have never been to a crawfish boil it is quite the spectacle, and experience. With this dire forecast, what do retailers and restaurants do to offset the loss of millions of dollars of revenue caused by one item. As one retail grocery owner told me, "there is no replacing those amount of dollars." Worse, is that some restaurant operators who depend on the crawfish season to carry them through the rest of the year, is unknown at this time how many may end up closing their doors this year. Truly the crawfish season is to a seafood restaurant in Louisiana what Christmas is to a toy store. While there is no replacing lost crawfish sales and the related products that go with them, there is an opportunity to recapture some of the lost revenue. Similar to boiled crawfish is a low country boil that comes from the Georgia and South Carolina coastal areas. Personally when I am ever in those areas, I enjoy the low country boil. Many of the same ingredients are used (shrimp or crab) in place of crawfish of course. With all the fixings of fresh produce too! Although the seasonings are quite a bit different the concept is similar...so if I am a retailer or restaurant operator in Louisiana, or any gulf coast state which depend on crustaceans their business in the Spring. Think outside the boil pot this year! https://lnkd.in/gt6U8DMv
This year’s crawfish haul is a ‘waiting game’ for Louisiana farmers
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May is National Beef Month, a time to honor and celebrate the hard work and dedication of the ranchers who work day in and day out to sustainably produce high-quality beef while stewarding the land and caring for their animals. With them, our work at Open Range Beef is possible. We are proud of our brand, Raise American, which offers delicious and nutritious beef sourced directly from American family farmers who prioritize pasture-raising. By choosing Raise American Beef, you embark on a farm-to-table journey that promises a unique blend of freshness and flavor. Our purchase of Spring Lake Ranch, located in the center of the Nebraska Sandhills region, was aimed at demonstrating that it is possible to produce incredibly delicious and tender beef that can compete with any other type of beef while maintaining an organic, pasture-based, and 100% grass-fed approach. Known as the "Napa of Grass," the Sandhills is the largest intact grassland in the world and is ideal for raising cattle out on pasture. Let's continue to support sustainable agriculture this May. Cheers to a month filled with appreciation and mouthwatering beef experiences! ...and to wrap up, a little factoid about The Sandhills. 😎 #beef #agriculture #regenerativeag #cattle Source: Nebraska Department of Agriculture
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For an even deeper dive, consider purchasing directly from a trusted local farmer or butcher shop sourcing from nearby grass fed farms. https://lnkd.in/gZhf-D64 #grassfedmeat #highestqualitygrassfedmeat
Is My Meat Really Grass Fed? How to Tell the Difference
thevocalpoint.com
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Saving Oregon’s Small Family Farms Requires Big Changes to Oregon Law "Judging by the number of cars going out to the country every weekend to visit a local farm, winery, or brewery, you’d think that Oregon law would make it easy for Oregon family farms to provide a service that the public obviously loves and supports. But that isn’t the case – Oregon law actually makes it difficult for farms to offer direct consumer sales to the public. Even worse, Oregon laws that are intended to 'preserve' farms have the exact opposite effect, eliminating small farms and forcing consolidation into large corporate farms. This isn’t good for Oregonians or agriculture." In this post we advocate for three common sense changes that will support Oregon's family farms! #familyfarm #farming #agriculture #agritourism #landuse #realestate #oregon #oregonpolitics #oregonlaw #orpol #orleg https://lnkd.in/ginx3NJ8
Saving Oregon’s Small Family Farms Requires Big Changes to Oregon Law - Oregon Property Owners Association
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Lots of new capacity to process beef and other red meat species coming on line in 2023-2025, while cattle numbers are at a 70 year historic low. This will mean that existing meat processors need to be more cost conscious, operationally efficient, customer-service oriented, maximize carcass values, and explore and launch other products and market channels, and do all of this with less labor. Not any easy time to be a processor. They will not be able to coast by doing what they have always done. Good article that sums up some of the issues. #nichemeat, #nichemeats, #goodmeat, #regionalfoodsystems, #beefsupply, #cattleherds, #meatprocessing, #drought, #smallscalemeatprocessing https://lnkd.in/gqUJKdVE
Beef industry to have smallest herd in 7 decades. Now what? - Michigan Farm News
michiganfarmnews.com
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Let's get to know the Colorado Beef Council! Today, we’re highlighting our Board Chair, John Scanga. We asked him a few questions about what the Colorado beef industry means to him. What part of the industry do you represent? While I fill a “Processor/Distributor” seat on the Colorado Beef Council, I feel that through my constant interaction with the livestock industry throughout Colorado that I am able to represent all of our stakeholders interests as we drive demand for Beef with Beef Checkoff resources. How did you get started in the industry? My interest in agriculture was formed growing up and working on our family's ranch at the base of Monarch Pass, spending summers in the mountains checking stock and in the meadows building winter hay stocks. When I went to Colorado State University in the early 1990’s, I had my sights set on becoming a large animal veterinarian like so many other students from that background. It wasn’t until I met the coach of the CSU Meat Judging team and the Meat Science faculty at the time that I discovered my true passion and calling of working in the meat industry, with a strong bias, focus and preference for beef. What do you wish consumers knew about beef production in Colorado? I wish consumers would take the time to get to know a beef producer, feedlot operator or processing plant owner or employee and rather than try to understand how we produce their product, understand who is producing the product first. Understand why they pour their hearts, souls and money into an industry that will provide one of the most rewarding, fulfilling careers, while at the same time teetering on the brink of financial peril with paper-thin profits, returns and wages. I see our consumer attitude data routinely and it gives me pause that consumers don’t trust and believe in our farming and ranching families across Colorado. We have to do more to facilitate these introductions and build these relationships, especially in Colorado where the urban corridor of I-25 and the “bread-basket” of the eastern plains are becoming nearly indistinguishable. For more information about our board and what it does, go to https://lnkd.in/gPU9B9Mn
Colorado Beef Council - About Us
cobeef.com
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