Farmer-Owned Retail Food Brands

My children and I own two small farms in the Omaha area that we inherited from my parents, 60 farmable acres near Bennington, NE and 270 south of Massena, Iowa. Both farms are in permanent pasture. Our Massena place is rented to an experienced beef cow-calf family. I am still in the process of converting our Bennington ground from small grains to permanent pasture.

We would like to lease these farms with purchase options to young farm families who want to stay in the beef business. However, our Bennington pasture is directly in the path of suburban development in Northwest Douglas County while pasture rents, high interest rates, and uncertain cattle markets work against long-term loan for both places.

But even under the best of conditions, these farms are too small to make money as free-standing operations in today’s markets. We are not alone (ERS, USDA). Small farms earn only 35 percent of the gross income from farming in this country while bigger operations earn 65 percent. Furthermore, government, non-profit, and food industry programs have failed to create new business models that small farmers can use to systematically increase income from farming – without selling land or taking on more debt.

Pooling Land, Cattle, and Marketing Resources

To cut costs and increase income from existing conventional and specialty commodity markets, I want to discuss beef grazing loops with row crop farmers and cow-producers who are fairly close together. Interested farmers can call or text 402-317-2639 for a one-page grazing loop plan.

However, scaling up to supply low-priced commodity markets is not enough for small landowners and farmers. We need to scale up AND earn the support of thousands of Omaha area beef consumers.

Three-Level Business Model

To earn consumer support, I am developing a three-level business model controlled by farmland owners and managed by younger farmers. Level One, starts with local grazing loops as outlined above. My business partners and I will write business plans for each farm, and separate operating plans for each loop. In other words, four farm plans, one loop plan.

For Level Two, grazing loop producers will be invited to discuss “regenerative production units” that will supply grain, hay, alfalfa and cattle to conventional and specialty commodity markets. If interest warrants, my business partners and I will write new business plans for each farm with a separate plan for the unit. Once the landowners approve these plans, we will outline lease/purchase options contingent on Level Three financing for:

• Farm and production unit capital and operating improvements
• Commodity market management for conventional and specialty crops and cattle
• Product and market research for farmer-owned specialty beef brands

Level Three starts with private meeting to discuss production unit business plans with the leaders of area institutions (universities, hospitals, etc.) and the owners of restaurants and grocery stores. With support from my business partners production unit landowners and farmers will lead these meetings.

The objective for each meeting is to show how local farmer-owned beef brands can reduce beef costs while improving the profit outlook for locally owned farms and beef processing operations. Page 2 has more on the need for farmer-owned retail food brands and our business model

Without successful farmer-owned brands, our small farms and thousands of others will eventually be sold to the highest bidder.

Please call me to arrange an appointment. Thank you.