Heath & environment priorities to beef producer: Episode 109

07/17/23 • 29 min

“Herd health is our #1 priority.”

Alli Fender left her corporate vet technician career to pursue her dream of being her own boss as a direct-to-consumer beef producer and black angus breeder. Not only does she juggle that dream alongside motherhood, showing and breeding Australian Shepherds, and sharing her beef story via flyingranch.org, Fender also records conversations on all things small business and shares them on her Agripreneur Empire Podcast.

Well aware of the misinformation surrounding grain-finished beef, Fender shares her concerns about consumer perspectives on hormones, antibiotics, and other buzz words within the beef world. While consumers may be fed content that drives fear and reinforces a negative connotation about beef, Fender spends a significant amount of time explaining her business model and the “why” behind using certain types of feed at the Flying F Ranch.

“I believe that by helping consumers understand that all beef is safe, nutritious, and raised in incredible conditions is essential to create trusting relationships and healthy communities.”

Get a glimpse into Fender’s operation on Instagram via @flying_f_ranch.

For more on the nuance of grass and grain-finshed beef, visit beefresearch.org.

“Herd health is our #1 priority.”

“I believe that by helping consumers understand that all beef is safe, nutritious, and raised in incredible conditions is essential to create trusting relationships and healthy communities.”

Get a glimpse into Fender’s operation on Instagram via @flying_f_ranch.

For more on the nuance of grass and grain-finshed beef, visit beefresearch.org.

Previous Episode

Beautiful beans from farm to plate: Episode 108

"The work ethic and pride most farmers have in what we do everyday is second to none. Family farms take care of the environment and land we use to make sure it is better for the next generations" points out a Michigan farmer responsible for the beans in your can.

Black beans, navy beans, bean soup, amino acids in beans, bean recipes...Greg Ackerman is a farmer who is glad to talk beans. Ackerman & son farms is a multi generational family farm focusing on producing high quality specialty crops, including dry edible beans. He especially enjoys growing navy beans.

Greg says that edible dry beans have the lowest carbon footprint of any product on his farm. He discusses soil quality, preparing a seed bed that allows for environmental efficiency, monitoring for insects to protect their crops, and more.

"The food we produce is the safest food that has ever been available in the supply chain. It’s the same food we feed our own families. That is a big responsibility that we not only accept but take pride in. The food safety standards in place today should help alleviate any misconceptions consumers may have," says Greg.

He shares details of site specific farming and how farmers use the tool to select what is needed for each type of soil. For example, they don't apply fertilizer where the soil can't hold it - and only put it on where the soil needs it.

Food cost is inflated today for many reasons. Greg, a member of the U.S. Dry Beans Council, points to the need to defend modern agricultural practices, food safety documentation and inspections, transportation and handling by processors.

Greg points to dry beans as the all around super food. High in fiber and protein, excellent for gut health and has an amino acid that has been proven to fight cancer cells.

Learn more at cannedbeans.org.

Next Episode

Sugar is sugar – and it's sustainable

There is a farmer behind everything you choose in the grocery store. Even sugar.

“Pesticides, GMOs, roundup, the word natural....fear-mongering in the grocery store needs to stop. People are guilted into paying more for equally safe food due to a meaningless label.”

As a full time farmer (she grows sugar beets, corn, wheat, rye, and dry edible beans) and mom in the thumb of Michigan, Rita Herford wishes people would pay more attention to experts when making their food-buying purchases. A fan of American-grown groceries, she wants consumers to know that “farmer” is not synonymous with “farmers market.”

"Farmers are not over-using pesticides; we don't want to use them, but sometimes it is necessary. Nature is disease, fungi, bugs, and microbes trying to infest food we are trying to grow. I eat food from the grocery store, too!"

If you’re curious about crop protection and the many forces working AGAINST farmers as they work to grow the foods we buy (in many different places), listen in on Herford’s perspectives as a farmer, mom of three young daughters, and consumer.

For more information on crop protection, visit https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/crop-protection-pest-management-program.

Follow Herford on Instagram , on Facebook and on Twitter @herfordrita to learn more.