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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
Search Results for: antitrust
It’s Still Called Stealing
By Mike Callicrate Grade and yield buying used to be called “Grade and Steal” by most cattlemen. Today, it’s called Value-Based Marketing by the big packers and their cheerleaders, like Certified Angus Beef’s (CAB) Miranda Reiman. In her March 4th … Continue reading
Tapeworm Economy Threatens Food Supply
Sucking the Life Blood from Family Farm Agriculture By Mike Callicrate | March 5, 2013 “Our ground beef comes from Stampede Meat Company in Chicago, it’s delivered by Sysco, and we need enough volume for 2,000 locations.” This was the … Continue reading
Pastured Animals Deserve Good Care and Good Nutrition
Unlike wild animals that are basically free to roam, domesticated animals are limited to a certain space – a pasture (ranch), a feeding pen, a corral. Cattle, sheep, goats, and other domesticated ruminants are a gift to humanity. They convert … Continue reading
Mike Callicrate featured in “Foodopoly” by Wenonah Hauter
Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America Wenonah Hauter grew up on a family farm that her husband runs today as a Community Supported Agriculture Project (CSA), which is part of the growing local food … Continue reading
Obama’s Game of Chicken
The untold story of how the administration tried to stand up to big agricultural companies on behalf of independent farmers, and lost. By Lina Khan | Print (PDF) In May 2010, Garry Staples left his chicken farm in Steele, Alabama, … Continue reading
