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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
This Ag Economist Preached Bigger is Better. Now He Says the Evidence Favors Small Farms.
by Nick Stumo-Langer | November 2, 2017 Since the 1960s, there’s been a concerted effort by economists and policymakers to consolidate family farms into large-scale industrial agriculture operations. The thinking was that these giant farms could better feed the world. … Continue reading
The deck is stacked against family farmers. Here’s one rancher’s powerful response.
Mike Callicrate is a rancher who started out in industrial feedlot cattle production, but converted to principles of animal husbandry and regenerative agriculture when he saw how exploitive a system he was working in — exploitive of the the land, … Continue reading
Ag Secretary Perdue Completes America’s Return to the Jungle
If Justice is a fundamental principal of the American way of life, then Secretary Perdue has violated this principle. The Packers and Stockyards Act was intended to ensure producers of livestock their due, protecting them from the abusive monopoly power … Continue reading
National Farm-to-School Month: Highlighting Cutting-Edge Programs
National Farm-to-School Month: Highlighting Cutting-Edge Programs The dark side of Farm-to-School While Food Tank celebrates Farm-to-School initiatives, there’s a darker side of the story that is at risk of being overlooked. Ranch Foods Direct has been in business in Colorado … Continue reading
China Beef Deal
Gilles Stockton responds to China Beef Deal: September 26, 2017 Dear Editor Call me a “wet blanket” or a “Debby Downer” or whatever you might think is the appropriate simile, but I am not too impressed with the China beef … Continue reading
