Wanting vs doing

This is an interesting article on why people say they want healthy food but when purchasing don’t actually buy healthier food. It was published on the Modern Farmers website.

This is something I witness myself. People tell me all the time how wonderful it is that we raise our animals the way we do. How great their lives are, but when I tell them how much our product costs, they immediately cannot believe it costs more than whatever is on sale at the grocery store. If I cannot compete with WalMart then they just don’t buy.

Sometimes these are the same people who actually begin the conversation with me squeamish over how rough we treat our animals when we literally couldn’t do any more for their welfare. They want me to treat our cows like they treat their dog then charge WalMart prices. When I explain the whole process to them, they leave thinking I’m too cruel (because we don’t put blankets on our cows or give them sweaters to wear) and I’m over charging then they go buy meat from a factory farm where animals are treated terribly with nary a thought about their conditions. Its a strange dichotomy, that’s for sure.

Farmers need to know business as much as beans

I know more about business than I know about farming. When I’m trying to keep up with the latin names for different varieties or discussing the various breeds of cows with a real cattleman, I feel like a neophyte compared to people who’ve done it all their lives. However on the business side of things I feel like I’m in better shape. Apparently, according to this well written article, we farmers need a batch of business. This especially is true for organic or sustainable farmers. It’s an interesting read.