Morning Ag Clips posted an article after our last Thanksgiving holiday that follows. They point out that farmers receive 17.4 % on average of the final cost of the food purchased at Thanksgiving (or anytime for that matter). Wow! It sounds incriminating, yet it is both true and understandable once you work in the food industry. You see, the very cost of the beautiful store you like to go to costs money. The trucks to get products to those stores from 1/2 way around the world add a good expense. And the processing is not free on anything, even the tomato that needed to be washed.
In raw terms (sorry for the pun), we at This Old Farm break the food system down into thirds. We aim for the farmer to receive a third, processor (yes, that is often us) should receive a third, and then the distribution and marketing team should receive a third. Many of our farm service customers choose to do this last piece themselves. Now they are getting not 17.4%, or 33.3% but rather 66.6% of the final cost when you shop direct from them. But some of our farmers do not want to do the marketing as it is indeed a job in itself. When we market and distribute for them, they still receive nearly twice as much as the average US farmer in percentage of total sale not to mention the premium they are getting for a local, natural product.
To make it even more exciting, when you purchase bulk freezer beef or pork from us, the farmer is getting 80% of the total livestock sale. Buying local supports farmers. Buying local returns more of your hard earned money to the one growing food for you. The store may not be as beautiful as your neighborhood grocery, but we sure are proud of you each time you come inside This Old Farm to support your local farmer.
Now you can feel extra good about gifting Good, Local Meat for Christmas!
Jessica
For the full story on the economics of a traditional Thanksgiving purchase, click the link that follows.