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Greg and Lea Stroncek raise Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW), Certified Grassfed by AGW beef cattle outdoors on pasture at Seven Seeds Farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Located in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, Seven Seeds…
In 2006, Garry and Ming Adams bought the 2,000-acre property they call Canyon of the Ancients Guest Ranch. Their plan was to create a unique location where guests could stay and explore the McElmo Canyon in southwest Colorado, where the…
Despite the recent recession, it’s great to see that demand for high-welfare, sustainable meats, dairy products, and eggs continues to grow. As the public wakes up to the negative impacts of intensive farming, they’re looking for food labels that provide real assurances that the food they buy is healthful, and produced with animal welfare and the environment in mind. Many different businesses have now set up programs to offer consumers certain assurances about the food they buy. It goes without saying that the many different labels offered by food businesses vary enormously in terms of their scope and operation. However, most of the claims are centered on claims that farmers are using humane, sustainable farming practices, or that animals are fed a strictly controlled diet, or that medications or hormones are restricted or even prohibited. Since it’s impossible for each of us to go out and check the farms ourselves, we effectively take it on face value that the food label we choose to support really does deliver the benefits that it promises.
A recent report from the UK’s highly respected National Trust has confirmed what Animal Welfare Approved has been advocating for a long time: Feeding cattle on grass throughout their lifecycle is the most environmentally sustainable way to raise beef. The new report – entitled What’s Your Beef – is an important contribution to the on-going debate about how to increase food security while reducing the environmental impacts of food production. Published by an organization responsible for the management of more than half a million acres of land across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on behalf of the nation, the messages in the report resonate with the arguments that AWA has presented for the wide-spread adoption of pasture-based livestock farming systems.
It pains me to say it but there are some very real connections between BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and the recent "pink slime" fiasco that need to be aired. I am not saying that "pink slime" (lean finely textured beef or LFTB for short) represents anything like the public health hazard that potentially BSE-infected meat could represent. Regulations are now in place to ensure that specified risk material is removed from every beef carcass so it does not enter the human food chain, and that the feeding of ground-up cattle remains back to cattle has been banned since 1997. However, it's hard to ignore the fundamental similarities of the two incidents and, more importantly, the underlying circumstances and mindsets that led to the adoption in both cases of some highly questionable industry practices -- practices that most people would have almost certainly have opposed had they been given the chance.
Eliza Lake and Bart Niswonger, and their two young children, Augustus and Charlotte, raise Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW, Certified Grassfed by AGW beef cattle at Kinne Brook Farm in Worthington, MA. The farm has been in the Lake…
Fred Liebl of Wagon Wheel Ranch has been farming since 1970. Although he wasn’t raised on a farm, his grandparents were farmers in New York state where he grew up and worked on a neighbor’s dairy farm. Fred’s work with…
Jennifer Sisney raises Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW) pigs, laying hens, sheep, beef and dairy cattle and meat and dairy goats at Landon Farm in Sperryville, Virginia. Jennifer grew up on a small farm in Virginia…
Joseph Egloff, a fourth-generation cattle farmer, raises Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW) beef cattle at Rocking Chair Ranch Cattle in Forsyth, GA, just north of the city of Macon. Rocking Chair Ranch Cattle started in 2014,…
Nate and Lou Ann Robinson, their children—Jacob, Jamie, Lindsay and Renee—and their families raise Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW) hogs and beef cattle outdoors on pasture at Jake’s Country Meats in Cassopolis, Michigan. Nate is a…
Peter and Dr. Diane Dickinson raise Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW) sheep and Certified Grassfed by AGW beef cattle outdoors on pasture at Shepherd’s Cross Inc. in Claremore, Oklahoma. Peter and Diane were both raised on farms and carry on…
Hawthorne Valley Farm was established in 1972 and is a diversified farm producing high quality, Biodynamic and sustainable foods while offering farm-based education opportunities for children and adults. The team at Hawthorne Valley Farm manages herds of Certified Animal Welfare…
