Recently I was shopping for my wife and as usual, I did a quick browse of the meat aisle. I was struck by the amount of labels on different products. An image began to form in my mind, a woman likely in her 30's, pushing a shopping cart, her 7 year old is at the other end of the aisle, her 3 year old impatiently riding in the cart and the baby in her arms is crying. She turns to pickup some ground beef, the look on her face says it all. She feels like a failure and now this, organic, free-range, pasture raised, non-GMO. How is she to know. She feels like pulling her hair out. The very thing that was supposed to help make decisions is now a frustration, and a google search only results in yet another handful of hair.
Why can't we just go back to the days before food was injected and sprayed with chemicals, days when our chicken came from farmer Ben down the road and our beef from Joe just several miles away. We knew and trusted these farmers.
A quick Google search only made things more confusing. Who is correct? Is it Organic? Is it Free Range? Which one is nutrient-dense and healthy? What if I told you all of these labels had very little value but also could have a lot of value? Stick with me for a bit. Maybe most surprising was how little is written from a farmer's perspective, the person who raised the food. Who would know better than them what created quality? They see firsthand what creates health and vitality in their soil, in their animals, and their own lives. As a farmer and consumer, I suddenly realized what a unique position I was in, it was one of those unique advantages we each have. How could I not share this with our tribe of customers who have chosen to trust us to raise their food?
When you teach a clerk to identify counterfeit money you don’t teach them what all the fake money looks like but rather what real money looks like.
So what does quality food look like?
- It is nutrient-dense
- It positively impacts our soil health, water quality, and air quality
- Requires very little to no use of antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic inputs.
Nutrition You are no healthier than the food we eat. And our food will be no healthier than the food it eats. How many top-performing athletes eat only fast food and potato chips? What effect does nutrition have on the development of our children? When it comes to nutrition, regeneratively raised, 100% grass-fed, and finished beef is a powerhouse. Any truly pastured animal will normally outperform its conventional counterpart by a wide margin. Much of this is because these animals have access to a smorgasbord of plants, each containing different nutrients and the nutrient density of those plants.
Impact on Soil Health, Water Quality, and Air Quality When regenerative grazing practices are implemented the trampling of plant matter by the cows' hooves and their manure has a tremendously positive impact on our soil and the biology in it, the land can infiltrate more water and the water that does run off is much cleaner. The ripping and tearing action as the cows gather mouthfuls of grass stimulates these plants to pump more carbon into the soil. The compounding and cascading effects of these practices allow us to greatly reduce or even eliminate synthetic inputs.
Requires Very Little to No Antibiotics, Herbicides, and Pesticides Interestingly this one becomes a nonissue because of the previous two points. When our livestock have access to a wide variety of forages they can select the plants that contain the minerals they need for fighting disease, when we are grazing cattle they often select for and eat what many people call "weeds" and use herbicides to kill. The issue of antibiotics in my opinion should not be as much about the antibiotics themselves but rather about why we need them altogether. When we place an animal in their natural environment and allow them to live the way God designed, suddenly there is barely a need or use for antibiotics.
Now that you have a broad idea of what creates quality let's take just a few minutes and look at 10 of the most common labels and what they mean from my perspective.
- Organic When I hear the word organic I picture large herds of cattle grazing contentedly on green pastures in their natural environment. Well, sad to say that is not the case.😏 For the most part "Organic" simply guarantees that the product does not contain pesticides, herbicides, and other synthetic chemicals. What it does not guarantee is that it is nutritious and Organic is often no more nutritious than conventional products. Organic beef can be raised on corn as long as the corn is organic. The farmers that created the Dust Bowl, one of the worst man-made ecological disasters in the history of America, would qualify as certified organic today.
- Grass-fed Sad to say there is a lot of confusion around this label and much of it is intentional. You may have noticed that we refer to our beef as 100% grass-fed and finished, this is because many people will supplement or finish on grain and imply it's grass-fed because a percentage of their diet was grass. Today you can buy beef labeled "grass-fed" and "product of the USA" in many of the supermarkets or online and it will have been raised on a feedlot, in Australia, where they feed only grass. A large percentage of our nation's grass-fed beef comes from out of the country and it is all legal. Guess who benefits from that? It's not the small family farm. Why does it feel so often like we as consumers are being taken across by large companies?
- Regenerative This is one of the newest labels to show up and is probably the hardest to define. It is using the 6 principles of soil health to regenerate our soils and raise more nutritious food and animals resulting in nutritious food for our families and children. Farms implementing regenerative agriculture reduce or eliminate their dependence on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.
- Product of the USA Under current standards beef can be raised in Australia, slaughtered in Australia, and then shipped to the USA, and as long as it is processed in the USA it can be labeled "product of the USA.
- Non-GMO This simply means that this product does not contain genetically modified organisms. But sad to say, it can still contain chemicals. It doesn't answer any of our 3 requirements for quality food.
- Free Range The minimum requirement for this label is simply that the poultry has access to the outdoors for 51% of its life. It doesn't say if there is any grass, and there is often very little improvement over conventionally raised birds.
- Cage-Free A cage-free bird may never see the light of day, be fed antibiotics, and GMOs. In reality, this label means very little.
- Pasture Raised This means the animal spent time on pasture but without context, we don't know how that pasture was managed. Did they get fresh grass every day? What chemicals were applied? Or was the pasture a dirt lot.
- All Natural In my humble opinion this is a pointless label. It doesn't mean the animal was raised in a natural environment, or in a natural way. It just means it is pork, chicken, or beef.
- Know Your Farmer Okay, I just made this one up😁 or did I? Without context most of these labels bring very little value. Every one of these labels means very little if only the minimum requirement is met. But what if you knew your farmer and could ask him questions suddenly these terms can have a lot more value. Suddenly Organic could also mean the soil is being taken care of, or pastured chickens would also mean they receive fresh grass and bugs every day, fulfilling God's design of eating pests and fly larvae. This places you firmly back in the driver's seat and you get to vote with your food dollar. What value and confidence does knowing your local farmer bring to your life, your children's lives, and your friends' lives?
Okay, I get this whole thing of knowing where my food came from and the farmer who raised it but what questions should I be asking him? How do I know if he is doing a great job? Very good question. First of all, there is no stupid question. But here are 3 great questions to get your conversation rolling.
- What effect does raising this food have on the erosion of your land?
- What effect does the raising of this food have on the wildlife and the insects on your farm?
- How often do you need to spray for pests?
Why these questions? Each one of these is an indicator of how your food is being raised and if each one of these can be answered positively likely your farmer is doing a great job raising your food!
Want to learn to know your farmer better? In a couple of days we will be sending out another email taking you behind the scenes of how and why we raise your food along with a special announcement! You won't want to miss out on that email!
In the meantime here at The Log Cabin Ranch, we'd love to hear your questions about how we raise your food. You can email us at david@thelogcabinranch.com