Be In The World
what you want to
See In The World

Janet and I went to watch the movie "Food Inc" at Cinema 21. I went along to be a good sport. I am generally disinclined to attend revivals… preaching to the saved and all that. I got most of the way through the book "Omnivore's Dilemma", we are buying from local farms, etc. So I went along, braced for bombardment but not expecting to learn much new.  In a way this is what occurred. But there was more. The producers of Food Inc did a masterful job of assembling bits and pieces into a compelling story. The evil machine of factory farming was a key player in this story. So were the farmers, the seed cleaner who was put out of business by the predatory practices of Monsanto, the workers – managed out of the same values as those that prescribe how the animals are treated, families like yours and mine… and, of course, the cows, pigs and chickens.

The movie is a scathing review of an industry that is allowed to exist because of huge subsidies by taxpayers. It is an industry fueled by corn. This is a story of incredible human ingenuity gone awry. But the movie is also a message of hope. That message is simple: Do what you can.  It's true: You are either a part of the solution or you're a part of the problem. Being in the business of buying several hundred pounds of groceries each week, Janet and I decided we want to be a bigger part of the solution.

Big Bad Baloney

Just because it is corporate, just because it is huge or successful, just because it is Walmart – doesn't make it bad. The movie really drives this point home by featuring Gary Hirshberg, Founder of Stonyfield, the third largest producer of yogurt in the U.S. Stonyfield sells to Walmart big time and Hirshberg tells about the derision that is heaped on him for doing business with the devil, that being Walmart. He has at his disposal an array of facts and figures as to how many tons and tons of chemicals and fertilizers that were not dumped into animals and onto the earth because they have been able to achieve economies of scale necessary to distribute goods through the largest company in the world at competitive prices.

The movie manages to include ruddy, round-cheeked, doofus-looking suits from Walmart in the picture in a way that makes it very clear that, to the extent that evil has become institutionalized into the food chain, it has only been able to exist because we the consumers ask for it, pay for it and pretend that we are powerless. Walmart's job is to give us what we want. It is difficult to fault the company because its customers are indifferent, lazy and self-disempowered.

Fictitious Labeling

Out of laziness we too readily form judgments without actually knowing the truth or directly observing the complete facts. It is one of the great sins of our time and it is the reason the world is chock-full of meaningless words and phrases. The very language we use is dying beneath us as we enable those who use facts to tell us lies. All-natural meat processors soak and pump their goods with brine that is "seasoned" with celery root and sea salt, knowing full well that these two ingredients combine to "naturally" produce nitrates. They call them "natural nitrates". How nice. Let them toast their creativity with a cup of the natural carcinogenic nitrites that cannot be calculated or measured due to the "natural" process by which they are produced. I'm thinking that good old saltpeter might not be so bad after all. Actually, I'm thinking that maybe my meat doesn't need to be kept artificially pink, so we corn our own beef… but we turn a blind eye to the ham.  

Another example: Birds raised in the United States may be sold as "free range" if they have U.S. Department of Agriculture certified access to the outdoors. No other criteria, such as environmental quality, size of area, number of birds, or space per bird are included in this term. A great tip-off that the term is being manipulated is if you see a label for "Veggie Fed Free Range" chickens. The chickens I've raised vastly preferred slugs to soybeans when given the opportunity to "range".  Stories abound about small doors that lead into tiny graveled outdoor enclosures from large sheds filled with tens of thousands of chickens that are not trained to leave. Voila! Free Range chickens. "Naturally Raised" is another commonly abused label in the meat business as the USDA has determined that common opinion of the definition brings nothing to bear on how it is allowed to be used.

Branding

We have been buying antibiotic and hormone free Piedmontese beef from Montana Ranch. I have been unwittingly mis-telling the story to our customers that these cattle are raised on a single ranch in Montana. No, I find out it's just a brand. The folks who run the company in Billings prefer to contract with their neighbors but they'll buy from anybody who will raise beef to their standards. And those standards are high. But the cattle are "finished" consuming evil corn in a feedlot in Nebraska and who knows how they are slaughtered, but it's not hard to guess because with few exceptions almost all domestic slaughtering is performed by just a couple of mega-companies.

So I reached out closer to home and contacted the folks at Painted Hills Beef in Fossil. They work with just a handful of ranches in the neighborhood in and around Wheeler County. They are good folks, but they're also a brand. And we the consumers demand consistency from our brands so Painted Hills animals are finished according to strict protocols. Ninety days on a prescribed diet in a feedlot ensures that all Painted Hills beef will taste the same. Only one of the ranches finishes its own stock. The rest of them use Simplot's feedlot in Pasco. All of the animals are slaughtered by IPB, the monster of the trade now owned by Tyson. Painted Hills is doing a good job and providing a valuable service and we can't sit and do nothing until a perfect solution comes along. Still… the devil is in the details.

Oregon Country Beef (also known as Country Natural Beef, or "CNB"), supplier to Whole Foods and New Seasons, does a pretty good job. They speak openly about their standards and practices for ranging cattle and protecting habitat. The co-op includes ranches from about a dozen western states. They declare on their website that all of the cattle are finished for 90 days on a feedlot owned by member-rancher-owned Beef Northwest, a local company that can feed up to 100,000 animals at one time from it's three facilities. It is reported that Beef Northwest finishes about 50,000 animals a year for CNB at its Boardman facility. Beef Northwest is the company that was featured in the press last year when Whole Foods declared it would no longer purchase meat finished at Beef Northwest facilities due to a union dispute. I guess Whole Foods preferred Simplot's business model and labor practices. Hmmm. Like Simplot, Beef Northwest uses a lot of potato byproduct in addition to corn and other supplements during the 3-square-meal-a-day final fattening regimen. CNB then ships cattle from Boardman for a 90-minute ride to the slaughterhouse at AB Foods (aka Washington Beef). AB Foods is a big business. One source declared its annual sales to be $172 million with 600 employees. CNB describes the final hours and slaughtering process in detail on its website. See the links page below to learn more.

Buying Beef

We think we want to try a different approach. CNB in many ways looks like the best of the bunch. At least we are not distributing our dollars to the evil giant Tyson Foods, as close as we can tell. But the phenomenology around massive feedlots and slaughterhouses simply sticks in our craw. Bethany's Table is going to start purchasing whole steers that are raised by small lot farmers and butchered in small USDA approved local shops. At $1 per pound on the hoof, $2 per pound hanging weight, $2.50 per pound cut and wrapped, it's worth a try. These grass fed and naturally finished animals will not each taste exactly alike. Isn't that cool?

Chicken

We don't want to buy any more factory-farmed birds. No more 40-day chickens; chickens that yield a 24 ounce breast that can be purchased by us, fresh, boneless and skinless for as low as $1.50 per pound. Breast meat cost more than twice as much when it is purchased from the only available Northwest "natural" producer, Draper Valley Farms.  New Seasons has solved this for themselves by going vertical, contracting out for their own Pacific Village brand chickens to a grower in Northern California. We don't have their buying power, but we'll keep working at it. Until something else comes along we'll use Draper Valley and just charge you for it.

Pork

Hill Meats in Pendleton does a pretty good job, as does Carlton Farms in Yamhill County. These are great brands, but they are not hog farmers. I believe that Hill contracts with farmers here and there but predominantly sources from some unique relationships in Alberta and Saskatchewan. They buy only carcasses and I understand they use a slaughterhouse and processing facility owned by SiouxPreme Packing Company in Sioux City, IA. This is supposed to be a first rate facility and, again, it's not Tyson.

I don't know much about Carlton Farms. Carlton slaughters and butchers various animals, specializing in pork. We have been using their pork chops but have them cut to order for us by SP Provisioners. Again, it is nice to buy local but we want to better verify the actual sources and processes. In our experience Carlton Farms has been a difficult bunch to do business with. We'll keep you posted.

Produce

This time of year that's easy. We buy all we can from Mark Brooks who owns the produce stand on 185th and West Union. Mark has been cultivating relationships with farmers here in the valley for years. He is a great resource and provides a terrific service to our community. Please help us support that by giving Mark your business.

Our rep at FSA told us that they are making a big shift to buying local produce. For FSA, not buying local whenever possible is simply foolish. The rep said the fully 50% of FSA's cost with regard to produce is tied up in freight. I guess this means they can pay smaller local farmers more than they pay Mexican agribusiness. Let's hope it works out. For now we'll stick with Mark whenever possible.

A lot of earth-friendly tree huggers take a stand on tomatoes and will not buy tomatoes out of season. I am guessing that tomato growing and distribution practices are probably as bad as it gets in the produce world but so far we haven't taken any definitive steps. I personally get grumpy when I order a $10 hamburger and they won't give me a tomato with it because the chef has issues.  But perhaps that is the appropriate stance. What do you think?

Conclusion?
Do the right thing… or as close to it as you can get.

Sure it's more work, if only because we need to wake the heck up. But these are great conversations that can lead to valuable relationships. It's community. It's a way to save the world. We are going to start paying more than we have been for some goods but I bet we find less expensive sources as well as we work harder to shorten the path from the farm to the table. And it certainly will be a more gratifying form of success.

Won't you join us in this adventure? Bring us your business. Pay more for chicken. Support folks in your community. And add your voice to this conversation by commenting below. Please include any links, tips and resources that you feel would be helpful.

Click here to access a page full of links that can help you do some of your own research on these matters. We have also provided contact information to help you find food sources in your neighborhood.