It has almost become cliche in the last two months to comment on the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves. The spread of and responses to Covid-19 have affected everyone and every industry in some measure, but few industries have felt the effects more acutely than the food industry. Countless restaurants have closed doors temporarily or permanently, numerous processing plants have shut down. The reduced processing capacity and the disappearance, almost overnight, of restaurants has led to the euthanization of millions of poultry and livestock. The stories are often filled with doom and gloom, and not without reason.
But that’s not the whole narrative. Where many farmers and ranchers in the commodity/industrial agricultural world are struggling, in our little direct-to-consumer corner of agriculture (and until two months ago it was a very, very little corner) consumer interest has sky-rocketed. We have had more deposits, emails and inquiries about whole/half/quarter cows in the last 60 days than all of last year. Other local farms have been unable to keep pasture-raised chicken in stock, even at maximum production. One company we work with, 4P Foods, which offers home delivery of local/regional vegetables, meat, and dairy, has grown at least 10-fold in two months. Our veggie-farmer friends have sold out of their CSA shares.
We, and I mean not just Ellen and I, but our farmer friends and local distributors like 4P, are very grateful to be in a position to try and meet this new demand for local food. This sudden sales surge raises a number of questions, though. First, what will the market for grass-fed/pasture-raised meat look like in 3, 6, or 12 months? The need to find meat somewhere besides the grocery store has clearly inspired many to connect with local farms. Our hope is that the experience of buying, cooking, and eating this kind of food will be so good that even when our industrial system adapts to market changes or things go back to more-or-less normal, people will opt to stick with buying from their local farms.
For these hopes to become reality, it will require farms like ours to grow and new farms to be established. But such growth will only be possible by neighbors and communities working together. We are very blessed – the families whose properties our cattle graze have been unbelievably supportive and generous. As we continue to build our farm and business in the coming years we will need to collaborate with other land owners in the area. One argument for industrial agriculture is that it’s the only way to produce enough food. I’ll take another opportunity to address that argument, but for now will just say that it’s not true. We can produce all the food we need in a regenerative, grass-based manner. But it will require land-owners and farmers working together. We will need to put more of our land into agriculture use, but if we do so regeneratively we will be improving the ecological health of our communities at the same time.
If we are going to learn from the past two months, I think one of those lessons should be that alternatives are always possible. By the end of World War II, over 40% of our fruits and vegetables were grown in backyard gardens. In the last two months seed sales have exploded and millions of people are starting or expanding gardens. We can continue to build a more resilient, nutritious, adaptable, and regenerative food system. Yes, it will need to be one that is community centered – neighbors working with and for the good of their neighbors; neighbors buying from and bartering with neighbors. But that’s just another good reason to do it.