Grass-Fed? Not Without Grass
An article from the Washington Post

Farmers trying to build a grass-fed cattle business are facing unprecedented drought conditions, especially in the southeast. The Washington Post reports, "Since 2000, the number of grass-fed beef producers has soared from 50 to more than 1,000 to meet growing consumer demand. But the Southeast's "exceptional" drought -- the kind that comes around only once or twice every 100 years -- and extreme weather elsewhere are crippling many in the new generation of cattle ranchers. Just when ranchers should be cashing in, weather conditions have delayed production, slashed profits and slowed grass-fed beef's move into the mainstream."

Read the article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600385.html

New USDA Rules for Grass Fed Meat

An Oct. 19, 2007, article in the NY Times (by our friend Marian Burros) reports that the "Department of Agriculture has announced standards that would for the first time allow meat to be labeled as grass fed only if it came from animals that ate nothing but grass after being weaned."

That's the good news. The bad news is the standards allow the use of antibiotics and hormones and do not require grass-fed animals to live on pastures year round. Members of the American Grassfed Association are not at all happy, and these producers have decided to set up their own labeling standard. For more information, contact the American Grassfed Association, americangrassfed.org.

For additional information (and entertainment) read the thoughts of twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, who asks, "What does grass fed mean?" His website is at www.jimhightower.com.

New Research on the Benefits of CLAs
by Ridge Shinn

The website FoodNavigator.com recently reported on research findings published in the British Journal of Nutrition on the use of CLA in milk which can cut body fat mass by 3%. This research has implications for food manufacturers to help create products for healthy fat loss featuring CLA additives.

Read the complete article here:
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=80605-cognis-cla-weight-management-tonalin

What We Need to Know About GMOs
by Ridge Shinn

One of the advantages of 100% grass-fed and -finished beef is that it has no additives and no exposure to GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) being introduced to the food stream. There are new GMO grass varieties bedng developed. So far, they are in the experimental stages, but grass farmers need to be vigilant about their introduction to farms. Health-oriented consumers do not want GMOs in their food supply.

American consumers lag behind European consumers' awareness of the potential dangers of GMO products. The August 2007 newsletter of the Institute for Responsible Technology has a very interesting article about GMOs:

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=1458

Consumers Demanding Cage-Free Eggs
by Ridge Shinn

It is exciting to see the consumers "pulling on the rope" and getting what they demand. Whenever I speak to consumer groups, I always remind them that they are the key to reviving the rural economy. As Wendell Berry says, "Eating is an Agricultural Act." Your food dollar votes definitely affect what gets raised for market and how it is raised.

I predict that 100% grass-finished beef will be one of the next very scarce products. Our challenge is that the ramp up time is 2.5 years for grass-fed beef, rather than a number of months, as for cage-free egg operations.

Read a recent New York Times article (from Aug. 12) about cage-free egg demand.

Raw Milk in the News
by Ridge Shinn

There seems to be growing interest in raw, unpasteurized milk drunk straight from the cow. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned interstate sales of unpasteurized milk 20 years ago, but adherents claim raw milk is healthier to drink.

August 8, 2007 New York Times published a very interesting article about the interest, and controversy, over this topic. You be the judge.


Read the article.

Return of a Dread Disease
by Ridge Shinn

We are both saddened and alarmed that foot-and-mouth disease has reappeared in English cattle, specifically on two farms in Surrey. This is a very contagious disease, as we recall from the outbreak of 2001. As a recent editorial in The New York Times noted, "It is really worth hoping that this outbreak is contained and its cause discovered as quickly as possible. The rural economy of Britain suffered a horrifying blow from mad-cow disease in the 1990s, followed, with surprising swiftness, by an equally horrifying blow from foot-and-mouth disease. Those two diseases changed the agricultural landscape and, especially, how people felt about it."

Click here to read the complete August 8, 2007 editorial here (printed in PDF format).