How Whole Foods, Trader Joes and other Health Food Stores
Killed My Farm
This post has been a long time in coming. I hope you enjoy my candidness. Buckle your seatbelt.
Whole Foods, Trader Joes and other health food chains are
whittling away at the movement we created.
When I say we, I mean pasture raising farmers. Farmers who are raising foods that not only
taste great, are healthier for you; all the while, they are healing the land
that has been irradiated by feedlots, pesticides and confinement house
farms. The movement that was pioneered
by people like the Burlingame’s, Joel Salatin and others, now carried out by
people like my husband, Galen Bontrager, Graham Donahue and many others, is
being hijacked by the mainstream.
What do I mean you say?
How are they killing your farm you ask.
I will tell you. They are now
starting to offer what looks like our food but isn’t. These health food giants are catching on that
people are starting to care about how their food is treated, what it is pumped
with and how it’s raised. They will tell you that they now have Organic, GMO
free meats, and you can pick them up with your bag of Brussel sprouts and a
bouquet of roses at the checkout. They
have the convenience factor we farmers are trying to create with our
deliveries. What they don’t have is
transparency, localness, financial reality and family.
Transparency. What
mainstream health food stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Martins etc.) can
tell you with full confidence where that Organic, Free Range, GMO Free chicken
came from? Can they tell you its total
diet? Do you know that all the “Organic,
Free Range GMO Free” label means is that the chicken was probably in a sunless
building on a concrete pad with some “litter on it for their natural foraging instincts”,
fed a certified organic feed. Organic
requirements state that chickens must have access to pasture; that is a 1x1
foot square opening that is usually closed and the chickens don’t know how to
use. That chicken that you’re getting for $2.75/lb
was never allowed to scratch in the dirt for bugs and clean the grass of
insects that could harm other animals. {That’s what chickens do. They eat the maggots of flies that are in the
dung piles from the other animals, thus reducing the fly amount that annoy the
cattle/other animals and promote disease.}
Being fed a vegetarian diet confirms what I have just stated. There is not bug eating, natural scratching
allowed in the Mainstream Health Food store world. They can’t tell you about the breed of the
beef you’re purchasing. Was it Herford,
some Highland, and a bit of Black Baldie?
A farmer can. You ask any farmer
who raises animals on pasture about the quality of the grass for their
chickens, the breeds of cattle they have, or the types of grass they are
growing for specific types of hay for the winter and they will have an answer
for you. A farmer can tell you that the
chicken you are buying is a Cornish cross or a Freedom Ranger. They’ll tell you how that chicken is fresher
than any chicken you’d find in a store.
Sometimes within a day of being processed. That’s fresh.
That’s transparency. You won’t
find that anywhere else
Localness ties into transparency in that you can know where
your food comes from. Can you go to the
farm that the “Grass-fed Ground Beef” you buy from Whole Foods or even Aldi
comes from? Most likely not. Why? First
off to be a supplier for those big chains you have to supply a very large
watershed of stores (like the entire eastern seaboard) and for beef
specifically most of it comes from New Zealand because – THEY GET IT! {New Zealand is the hub of grassfed beef and
lamb. They understand that that’s how
those ruminant animals were designed to be raised.} I personally know more farms than I can count
who are raising animals on pasture who openly welcome visitors. Come see them move the cows to a new grass
paddock, feed the chickens and turkeys, or even come on processing day and
really know where your food comes from.
Financial reality.
This one hits home. This is by
far the biggest issue I/we have. People
ask “Why is your food so expensive? I
can get it _____ place for cheaper. And
it’s Organic.” Or worse yet, they never ask you – they just
never buy your food. I’ve already
explained that the title “Organic” means very little. Yes, it is free from genetically modified
material and not sprayed with pesticides.
But it doesn’t mean that the animal ever saw a blade of grass, a bug, or
a ray of sunlight. So don’t tell me that
because it bears the title ‘Organic’ that it’s any better than mine. My meat will outshine that meat 10times out
of10. I know that my practices are all organic and the reason I don’t have that
pretty little label on my food is because of all the hoops and buckets of money
it costs to get that little certification.
So I don’t plan on getting it. I
want you to get to know me, know my farm, know your food. Don’t just be fooled by a little label. I have more faith in you than that, though
maybe my faith is ill placed.
Have you ever ordered a baby chick and raised it out to full
size and then killed and ate it? Did you
know that each chick costs about $1. The
deathrate on those little chicks can be as high as 20%. So out of 100 chicks, there’s $20 down the
toilet, and the other 80 chicks need to pay for.. Now let’s feed that little critter. The first 3 weeks it lives in a brooder, an
enclosed shelter away from predators.
Then the last 5 weeks it lives in a floorless shelter that is moved each
day so that each chick has ample exposure to grass, and bugs as well as the GMO
Free Feed that you have available to it.
{Poultry and Swine are Omnivores – they need both meat and veggies in
their diet. The bugs and critters give
the meat element and the grain and grass provide the veggies/carbs} Each
chicken consumes about $4.50 of feed in its 8weeks of life. The electricity in the brooders to keep them
warm, the water to keep them hydrated, the bedding in the brooders all boils
out to about $2/chicken. And then you
have to package your chicken. Each vacuum
seal bag is 25cents and you’ll use 3 of them per chicken and a bag for the
backs (10 cents) Let’s add up that
cost: It will cost you $8.35 cents to
raise that chicken; that is NOT including labor, paying yourself anything, and
any help you get, processing that chicken, the propane used on processing day, the
water used on that processing day, refrigeration, and the gas to deliver it to your
desired location) So, when whole
chickens are priced at $1.00lb in stores the financial reality is just not
there. It is impossible to raise food at
that price. The big companies get away
with it because they sell more volume so they can recoup that cost and they don’t
care about the fine details like sunshine, moving the animals, fresh bedding
etc. It is expensive to raise food, and
when you see food priced that cheaply ask yourself why?
How are they able to get it that cheap? Or better yet – ask a pasture raising farmer
how much it costs to raise an animal. A
heifer calf cost $700-800 each – then you have to raise it out and move it
daily and provide it with minerals necessary until it’s big enough for your
customers. Piglets are $75 each. Please realize that the costs to get good
food to you are great. Our Heritage Farm
paid over $60,000 in feed last year.
Feed for the pigs to supplement them being in the wooded pasture, feed
for the chickens in the field, feed for the laying hens in the field. Gasoline:
making hay, traveling to markets, traveling to Pittsburgh, traveling all
over… $12,000 last year. Insurance
prices are on the rise for us and then the taxes too! The other things:
marketing materials, canopies, tables, brochures, coolers, freezers, maintenance
on all these items, vehicle repairs, hiring help… it is a huge
undertaking. All this to say: that the mainstream Healthfood Giants (Whole
foods, Trader Joes, etc.- their prices don’t reflect financial reality for a
farmer. They reflect financial reality
for a confinement house owner and mega market.
My final point is family.
Family is one of the biggest reasons we do what we do. We know our customers. They know us.
We get Christmas cards from them.
We keep updated via emails here and there on what’s going on with
them. Some I’ve never met in person
(namely because I have to keep my 3 crazy boys maintained at home!) but I feel
like I know them personally. When you
buy from a farm and not a corporate store you are helping a family. Because of your purchase I can go and get my
boys a new pair of boots so they can go help daddy on the farm. My boys want to raise animals like daddy does
when they get big. If you were a fly on
the wall in my house on any given day you’d hear my boys use play cell phones
to call Ed (our current apprentice) and tell him their imaginary sheep are out
and they need to get them back in, or hear them tell you they’re going to go
butcher chickens today. They can grow up
and be a farmer like their daddy because of customers supporting our farm. However, we have seen a major decline in
purchase quantity and quality in the past few years since the Health food
Giants have come into our market areas.
It hurts us so badly. Our email
list is over 300 people, but orders are in the teen some weeks. We don’t want to have to move to where folks
care about their foods but that’s what will happen if folks don’t start waking up. If
folks choose convenience over quality, they will kill the farms they “say” they
are supporting. We started this
movement and it’s being stripped away from us… one customer at a time.
****
Epilogue
What can I do?
If you’re reading this and you want to know how you can help
farms from dying, I can help you with that answer. Buy Local.
Support farmers. Get to know a
farmer, build a relationship with them.
Don’t be afraid to touch meat, it’s cheaper to buy a whole chicken and
cut it up yourself instead of buying it pre-cut or just the pieces. Alter your priorities. If family is a priority to you – which is
commendable for sure- don’t just settle to get food it their bellies. Make it the best food you can get for
them. Do your homework about benefits of
pasture raised meats, and learn about the Omega6’ vs Omega 3 balance, CLA, and
Vitamin D and E. If it means that things
may have to change up a bit for you… maybe it’s worth it. Your families’ health and well-being will be
impacted by choosing good food over crap.
That could lead to less doctor visits, which leads to more money in your
account, which can help you be able to get more good food for you family. Seek out the best. If you can’t afford it, then get what you can
afford. Talk to your farmer, let them
know that you support them and what your situation is. They can lead you in the best method of
getting foods that you can afford. Communication
is a wonderful thing. It takes a
commitment and possibly a change in schedule, but the pay offs are immeasurable. Also, if schedule changing isn’t working, find
a friend who can pick up for you or best yet talk to the farmer. We deliver directly to some people’s homes
because they have a situation and they’ve asked us to. Communication. I hope that you come away from this reading
more informed than you were when you started and with a greater understanding
of what the life of a farmer is like. I wouldn’t
trade it for anything. I love my life;
being married to a GrassFarmer is a great thing and I have the best life. That said, it is tough, and people don’t
understand it nor do they try to understand it. I hope now you do and you
will. Find a grass-farmer and you’ll
find a friend.
family Christmas pictures 2016
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