Items Tagged With Grassfed

There is so much talk about our dependence on foreign oil right now. The debate on Tuesday really showed how Americans, regardless of party affiliation, are not comfortable with our dependence on oil. Being green is not about being trendy any longer; it is a matter of national security, not to mention preserving our planet. One statistic really speaks to me: the fact that we consume 25% of the world’s oil and we only make up 8% of the world’s population. Many nations aspire to be like us, and with developing nations like China and India nipping at our heels, we need to present better solutions, ones that use less oil and are more sustainable.

Grass-fed farming is such a solution. Meat production in the United States is a fuel- hungry enterprise, reliant on fossil fuel at every point in its industrial process. Granted there are many industries that use oil in our country, but our agricultural sector is one of the worst and accounts for 25% of our oil consumption.  We subsidize both oil and food, so it is difficult to see the real cost that goes into “growing” food in this country.  We have been immune to the real cost for decades, but with rising oil prices, we are starting to get a glimpse of how much oil goes into producing food, and particularly meat.  Mark Bitman really brought this point home with an article that asks us to rethink how we produce meat.

Why is grass-fed farming such a smart solution? Because grass-fed farming at its core is about converting the sun’s energy into food.  There is minimal need for fossil fuels because under the farmer’s stewardship his pastures or rangelands convert sun into grass, and the cow converts the grass into healthy, high quality protein. In this process, we all benefit: the pasture and rangeland eat up CO2’s and the cows do not require antibiotics, nor do the fields need fertilizers (which require alarming amounts of fossil fuels to make).  The system is just smart.  Another benefit of grass-fed farming is its frugality.  Because the grass-fed farmer uses the sun for energy, his cost is far less then a conventional farmer’s, whose whole process is dependent on fossil fuels.  Grass-fed farming translates into financial independence for farmers, and a chance to compete in our commodity- driven agricultural sector. 

What are your thoughts?  Do you think that America is ready for grass-fed change?

From my personal experience as a farmer’s daughter and one who has seen family farms disappear in my beloved upstate New York, I say, YES, we are!  Farmers want to take their money back; they need to make a profit. They do not want to spend thousands on fertilizer and GMO corn patents. I really think this nation is RIPE for change. It is just a matter of getting our politicians on board and empowering farmers to make the change. 

The 2nd Grass-fed Party New York City Cowcus brought a lot of like-minded people together for conversation, drinks, and excellent food last night. Among the attendees was a grass-fed beef producer from Arkansas, a documentary filmmaker who is working on a film on grass-fed farming, a man who works for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, a woman who works for the New York State Governor’s Office, a young woman who has worked on organic farms in Oregon, and many others who were passionate about the Party and making our food sources sustainable. We talked about grass-fed farming and food ALL night!  What struck me most about everyone at the Cowcus was that although we all had different reasons for supporting the Grass-fed Party, we all could agree on how exciting and promising grass-fed farming is.  Whether as farmers, cooks, environmentalists, policymakers, teachers, or business people we could all agree on one thing: grass-fed farming provides real solutions to so many problems. Whether we were talking about its health benefits, or its environmental benefits, or even its benefit to family farmers and rural communities, each conversation inspired me to think about how important it is to inform more Americans about grass-fed farming. Our hope for this community site is that it will become a platform for people across the country to talk about grass-fed issues.

Here are some of the topics covered at the Cowcus last night:

The need to create better access to fresh foods within walking distance of more homes in urban neighborhoods.

The potential to create more economic balance between upstate farmers and New York City eaters.

The need for more financial support from banks or the government to help new grass-fed ranchers make a start at a viable business.

How can we bridge the gap between the need for providing healthy foods for the hungry and the growing movement that advocates artisanally produced foods?

How can small farmers achieve a fair share of farm subsidies when faced against the powerful lobbies of big agribusiness?  Can a political leader address this problem and make a change in the status quo?

Dear Mr. Pollan,

  As a candidate for President this year, I felt obliged to reply to your now famous letter printed in the New York Times this Sunday, as it was addressed to a Mr. President-Elect.  As a potential President-Elect, I read your letter closely, and hope that my fellow candidates have done so as well. 

 Mr. Pollan, I want you to know that I have been campaigning on a platform that seeks to reform the food system much like you have suggested in your letter.  I was more than happy to see that you addressed the President-Elect in your letter, as I believe that the changes in policy that are necessary for real Grass-fed Change to take hold in this country will be made when we have the cooperation of our President.

 I’ve listened to the voices of my constituents across the country, the voices of those who are ready for grass-fed change and the voices of those who want to make a living as grass-fed farmers and ranchers.  I ask them, “What is the greatest hurdle to achieving a true Grass-fed America?”  I have heard a resounding reply: subsidies. 

  We, the farmers, the animals, and other grass-fed believers know that the current subsidy and loan distribution is too heavily weighted in favor of the big corporations.  We know   that the status quo in Washington is keeping us from achieving what we call Grass-fed Change and what you call diversified sun farming.  The powerful lobbies in Washington ensure these subsidies are kept in place, however, it is in the authority of the President to stand up and steamroll these lobbies to redistribute the subsidies in a way that favors an agricultural self reliance that is crucial to maintaining the health of our people and land. So I applaud you, Mr. Pollan, for addressing the President-Elect in your reform proposal, and letting him know how crucial his role will be in preventing a serious crisis on our homeland, and that it must begin with reforming the policies of our farmland.  The people are waiting.

I thank you for the for the solid and radical advice laid out in your letter.  It has been very encouraging to me.

Sincerely,

Mr. Angus La Cense

Founder, The Grass-fed Party

P.S.  I enjoyed your proposal for a White House South Lawn Victory Garden.  If I am elected, I promise that my family will set an example for your polyculture sun farms.  I promise to unabashedly graze my meals on the White house lawn, keeping the soil healthy and ensuring that tax-payers dollars will be saved as we will not be needing any oil or chemicals, but only sun to produce the food that will keep my neighbors and my family healthy, safe, and self-reliant.

Grass-fed cows are happier, healthier and do not require hormones or antibiotics to stay healthy.

Yes it is true; a cow that lives on pasture is happier and healthier because a diet of grass works with a cow’s ruminant system not against it. Cattle have been converting grass into food for thousands of years ---- it is what they are meant to do! It was not until after WWII that we started to feed cows corn, grain, and other things (even chicken manure!), and since then cows have had to be treated for illnesses with antibiotics, boosted up with hormones and have suffered from stomach inflammation. Feed lots are now common place, and they are a stressful, crowded, hot and an unnatural place for a cow.

If, when you envision a cow, it is in on pasture where it is free to eat when it wants to eat---you are thinking of a grass-fed cow! One that is happy to roam free and eat what it was intended to eat!

Last night the first official Cowcus of the Grass-fed Party was held in New York City at Back Forty. The Cowcus was a round-table discussion between experts who have made a significant contribution by vocation to grass-fed industries and knowledge.

Our guests of the evening included, Betty Fussell, Ken Jaffe, and Linda Jaffe. Betty Fussell is a writer of food and America, and has spent the last four years traveling around the U.S. interviewing ranchers and writing her soon to be released book, Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef. Ken and Linda Jaffe are the owners of Slope Farms in Delaware County, New York where they raise grass-fed beef and work to preserve farmlands while helping to promote grass-fed beef production and distribution in upstate New York.

The evening went swimmingly and the conversation went on for four hours! The guests brought a wealth of knowledge to the table and Ulla and I gained quite a bit of new insight into the complicated subjects we are going to be tackling in the coming months.

Here is a list of some of the subjects covered last night. We will be elaborating on the points made on these topics raised at the Cowcus in the upcoming weeks.

• The history of beef in America
• The place of corn and subsidies in commodity beef production
• The production and distribution challenges faced by small grass-fed ranchers
• The regional differences in grass-fed productivity
• The challenges and benefits of rancher co-ops
• The impact of one writer, Michael Pollan, on recent interest in grass-fed beef
• The matching of new generation ranchers and farmers with unused pasture land
• Breeds of livestock and how they do on a grass-fed diet


Questions that came out of the discussion:

• Is a complete switch to grass-fed beef in America possible and what would it take on a practical level?
• How can we support and entice a new generation of farmers and ranchers into the occupation and make it economically sustainable?
• Is the American palate open to grass-fed meats?
• Are there enough acres of grazing lands in this country to support grass-fed beef as a commodity product?