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“The money and political power of Wall Street has stolen America’s food system, bankrupted our farmers and ranchers, mined our soils, polluted our environment, wasted our precious water, and left us with expensive industrially produced food that makes us sick.” – Occupy Wall Street Food Day, December 2011 -
Industrial Agriculture and Urban Sprawl – A model of growth that’s made to fail. -
Ranching Reboot Episode 4, Mike Callicrate “It’s time for a third revolution against monopolies”
Above: Ranching Reboot – Episode 4 – Mike Callicrate, owner of Ranch Foods Direct, sat down with us to talk about all manner of things from cattle markets, to public food spaces, the Bander, his feedlot and the pathway he built to market.
He shares valuable lessons learned from fighting against the commodity production system and how he’s built his own pathway to the consumer.
We talk about small community slaughter plants and public meat spaces and what that could look like going in to the future. We discuss environmental challenges, the food police and what it means when a Dollar General comes to town.
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- This Cattleman's Got A Beef
Photo: Sean Cayton - 2003People producing good food from happy animals, while improving the environment, shouldn’t have to fear the government.
Photo above featured in a 2003 article: This cattleman's got a beef, Mike Callicrate and Ranch Foods Direct take on the big meat packersby Kathryn Eastburn
Author Archives: Mike Callicrate
Has NCBA Become a Liability to the Big Meatpackers?
May 28, 2021 Since the formation of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) in 1996, the big meatpackers have been invited to join NCBA and routinely gather in the same room along with NCBA’s members, leadership, and lobbyists – a … Continue reading
Dear Secretary Vilsack – We must fix the broken cattle and beef supply chain
May 11, 2021 The Honorable Tom Vilsack Secretary of Agriculture United States Department of Agriculture Washington, DC Ref: AMS-Tm-21-0034: Comment on Executive Order 14017, Supply Chains for the Production of Agricultural Commodities. Dear Secretary Vilsack: The Montana Cattlemen’s Association (MCA) … Continue reading
Let’s Meat – Challenges & opportunities in small and mid-scale meat and poultry processing
“How in the world can that kind of theft go unchecked? “How is it that our Congress, that the USDA can’t see there’s a problem with the Tyson fire and the COVID disaster when the packers take that much advantage … Continue reading
A fence can tell you a lot about an outfit.
April 1, 2010 Thirty-five years ago I learned that fences didn’t have to be new to be tight and straight, keeping our cattle in the pasture and our neighbors happy. In 2004, a jury in Montgomery, Alabama, was presented with … Continue reading
Montana Farmer’s Union Producer Annual Conference (2021) – Building a profitable and rewarding pathway to the consumer
View the slideshow directly here: Links from slideshow listed below: Slide 7: Link 1: https://farmactionalliance.org/cargillfoodfraud/?emci=989ff322-6d2e-eb11-9fb4-00155d43b2cd&emdi=4869c4b9-6f2e-eb11-9fb4-00155d43b2cd&ceid=13997041 Link 2: https://nobull.mikecallicrate.com/2016/04/09/real-world-ranch-restoration/ Link 3: https://www.cargill.com/story/cargill-aims-to-beefup-sustainability Slide 8: https://nobull.mikecallicrate.com/2009/06/04/how-mavericks-became-zombies/ Slide 12: https://nobull.mikecallicrate.com/2020/10/15/the-four-recommendations-of-the-federal-trade-commission-regarding-the-meat-packing-industry/ Slide 13: https://nobull.mikecallicrate.com/2018/02/08/the-husbandman-that-laboreth-must-be-the-first-partaker-of-the-fruits/ See John Ikerd’s Community Food Utilities
