Today’s Farm

To fully understand how and why the pork you’re eating got to your plate here is a bit of history… For millennia, man has practiced the art of keeping swine. The pig is an amazing protein sink where energy from plants and other foodstuffs not consumable by humans can be stored in the form of succulent meat until it is needed for food. The prolific nature and adaptability of pigs to many areas of the world have led to their place of prominence in the modern food chain. This practice remained unaltered until the 19th century. Now with the mass migration of people to cities fewer farmers started to keep more pigs and become more organized, soon the breeding of organized lines developed from the multitude of existing breeds to try to enhance some desired trait such as the amount of fat or muscle an animal had on its carcass, or the ability to exist in cold or hot climates. Although the Spaniards first brought pigs to North America, it was in the nineteenth century that pigs began to spread west into the United States with the Northern and Western European farmers move into Iowa, Illinois, and surrounding areas. As corn became a staple in the Midwest, it wasn’t long until pig production evolved to be its alter ego. Pigs were a way for farmers to utilize the corn they produced on their farms by turning it into pork which could be shipped back east for consumption in the form of meat. This method of adding value gave birth to the Chicago packing industry which soon acted as the processor for most of the pigs produced in the middle part of the United States. By 1915, the number of pigs produced in the United States had reached its zenith, and would never change up to today. Millions of farmers kept sows on their farms and were always counting the weeks until this or that bunch of fat hogs would be ready for market thereby enabling a stream of valuable cash to flow into that farm family’s budget. Hogs became known as “mortgage lifters” and were the backbone of the economy of Midwestern agriculture.

World War II, and the Beginning of Industrialization, Antibiotics

Following the arrival of penicillin during and after World War II, farmers in the western world learned of the seemingly miraculous ability of this new silver bullet to eliminate sickness from their livestock. It seemed even to promote growth, and over the next two decades more types of antibiotics along with penicillin became ubiquitous on any farmyard. Farmers everywhere were using it not only as a method of treating illness, but eventually as a preventative measure included in all feed from birth to near slaughter as a kind of insurance policy. Soon pharmaceutical companies and their vested marketing interest were working hand in hand with local mills, manufacturers, and universities to develop new systems that could more intensively and more densely house livestock. Why not have 1000 pigs, or 5,000 pigs in our barn? Many farmers began to ask themselves. The old limits Mother Nature imposed on the amount of pigs any one farmer could keep were apparently now abated by space age technology and miracles of the laboratory.

The Age of Confinements

By the early to middle 1960’s the “confinement barn” was spreading its way across the United States and the rest of the western world. The technology was an intensive method of housing pigs in groups for growing hogs or single stalls for sows in pregnancy and during lactation. All animals whether group or stall housed stood on concrete floors that had grooves cut into the floor to allow the waste to pass through into a “pit” which was constructed underneath the barn. This manure is kept liquefied and taken out to spread on the surrounding fields seasonally. Automatic feeding machines pass food from outside bins into the barn for the pigs to eat. Automatic lighting and ventilation as well as heating are utilized. All aspects of this system allowed for maximization of scale on one farm. In other words, lots of animals can live in a small space and minimal labor is theoretically required to care for these animals. By now, preventative antibiotic use was the modus operandi of nearly any hog operation that was viewed as progressive in its community. Soon some farmers began to build more and more confinement barns and get more and more pigs. Other farms started to feel pressure from this industrialization effect, and many began to cease pig production if their financial position restricted such expansion. Soon the farms that grew and used the new confinement system didn’t resemble the traditional family model any longer. They became corporatized, and took control of still more pigs, and to satisfy their investor shareholders they often began to make special arrangements with slaughter plants that created new kinds of economies in the rural economic fabric, so the line was blurred between farmer and packer. The idea of a daily cash market in pigs also went by the wayside.

The Other White Meat

By the 1980’s the trend of industrialization had reshaped the landscape of the Midwestern swine business. Most family and small scale traditional pig farms were gone. Hundreds of thousands of pigs could be produced on a single site with multiple confinement barns and little labor. Controversy began to arise over the impact on society and the environment from such farms. Consumers on the whole began to eat less pork for a variety of reasons. The pork industry as a whole decided on a new marketing plan for its product. “The Other White Meat” was a term coined to coincide with the trend to eat leaner meat during this time. In other words, consumers should eat pork because it was healthy and lean like poultry. Packers began to require that pigs be leaner and leaner. A few new breeding companies were formed to genetically select new kinds of hybridized pigs for leanness. Many traditional breeds of pigs that have been in existence for centuries fell out of favor and nearly into extinction as farmers were given this ultimatum from the packing plant. The overall quality of pork declined as consumers were give no choice but to buy this new leaner meat with less red color, less intramuscular fat, and degraded eating quality.

New Beginnings and Post Modern Pigs

In the 1990’s the organic food movement began to take hold in parts of Western Europe as well as the United States. Consumers began to awaken to the impact of their spending choices related to agricultural and food issues, and a keen focus on holistic living and health provided a new market for organic and natural food. It wasn’t long before some in England began to tout the importance of traditionally reared livestock as an attractive throwback approach to what had now become the dominant conventional method. People suddenly awoke to the past and memories of “good tasting” pork from farms with methods that were less controversial.

The Outdoor System from England

Farmers began to experiment with the historic systems in this new “post modern” setting and learned how to deal with modern concerns over availability on a weekly basis, (traditionally pigs were only available seasonally and much pork was salt cured and preserved for winter months) as well as clean fresh meat in packaging that met modern food safety standards. After a few years of trial and error farmers developed a good system to house pigs outdoors in any season and methods to organize the reproduction of pigs to ensure that market weight mature animals could be ready for slaughter at any time to offer fresh meat to the eating habits of modern consumers in grocery stores or restaurants.

Setting Up the Outdoor System in Iowa, a Learning Experience

In 2003 a group of niche pork enthusiasts sent a contingent of farmers, university researchers, food industry specialists, and meat scientists to Northern Europe to study the production of niche pork there. On this trip, the English system which at that time had spread into Denmark and Sweden was viewed for the first time. The promise to add organization to the traditional methods of outdoor pig production that were crying out for improvement was noted by participants. In 2004 after initiating contact with a farmer in Denmark, Becker Lane Organic Farm started to make changes in its plan of production for pigs. The first change was an ideological shift away from the traditional fear of winter birthing of small piglets. New engineering and manufacturing procedures that weren’t available prior to WWII now allowed sows living outside to give birth year round thanks to the galvanized steel farrowing hut. This strong and well insulated house for the sow preserved most of the sow’s body heat in temperatures as low as minus 20 Fahrenheit. They could be placed in pastures and filled with straw, and the insulation worked to keep the hut warm in winter and cool in summer. Now farmers that embraced the traditional views on outdoor pig production but were restricted to spring and fall birthing of piglets (farrowing) had an option to produce pigs year round thus being able to offer fresh meat continually to interface more easily with the needs of modern grocery markets and restaurants.

Getting the Food to the Customer

Challenges for independent farmers to create pathways that allow the flow of food produced with attributes outside the commodity food chain to customers who share the value of those attributes is a great challenge. Our current food supply chain is not designed to allow small quantities of food to get from farm to plate without passing through many middle gatekeepers who want to take the identity from the product and sever this philosophical bond between farmer and consumer. This reality combined with the degraded infrastructure of the slaughtering industry give only a few options for farmers to get the pigs butchered and sent on to restaurants and grocers around the country. Becker Lane has created relationships with a quality slaughtering and butchering facility that is also using organic and Certified Humane® methods. As more consumers choose organic meat, we will hope that more processing options become available for farmers and their customers.

First Certified Humane® Egg Supplier and Processing Company in Viet Nam

As an industry pioneer in Viet Nam, V.Food has observed the cage-free movement for laying hens increase around the globe. “We are a leading company in the Vietnamese egg industry and want to differentiate our eggs from the nearly 77 million hens raised in confined in small, crowded, wire cages every year in Viet Nam,” says owner Mr. Truong Chi Thien.

With a vision to improve the living conditions for laying hens and in response to customers’ requests for cage-free eggs, V. Foods has become the first egg supplier and processing company in Viet Nam to achieve the Certified Humane® designation. “We have received a lot of interests from livestock associations, press, reporters, and buyers as we are the first producers in Viet Nam to get certified,” says Mr. Truong Chi Thien.

Since its launch in 2003, the journey to become the leading national egg production company, bringing nearly 1 million safe, traceable eggs to the market everyday has not been easy. Mr. Truong Chi Thien, over nearly 2 decades, has overcome ongoing challenges, by supporting his producer network in Mekong Delta and Southern, and building a modern egg processing plant in Ho Chi Minh City.

The main enterprises of Pingyao Weihai Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd. are ecological farming, egg sales, and egg processing at the site of two farms in China, Pingyao Dongyoujia and Nanzhanwan.

Pingyao Dongyoujia farm was first equipped with the cage free facilities, raising about 20,000 cage free birds in 2016. Once the cage free system was in use and chickens could move and feed freely, Weihai Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd saw an improved performance of egg production. Additionally, the chickens raised in their new cage free system were more vigorous and had stronger disease resistance.

At that time, cage free birds only accounted for 8% of total production. Nanzhanwan farm is currently building 5 cage free chicken barns, and each will house 30,000 egg laying hens. Now as a producer of Certified Humane® eggs, Weihai Ecological Agriculture Co., Ltd is a stronger competitor in the marketplace where many multinational companies are committed to using cage-free eggs.

Happy Eggs (Hainan) Agriculture Development Co., Ltd Jiangsu Branch

Since 2015, Wang Weisheng and his team have visited dozens of laying hens breeding factories and found that small and medium-sized farmers have simple facilities, and that widespread use of antibiotics is common practice. Wang Weisheng and his team hope to use mobile Internet technology to help farmers raise chickens, promote humane husbandry practices, and let consumers eat, “non-resistant,” eggs. In November 2016, the brand, “Happy Egg,” was officially born. In the follow year, July of 2017, Happy Egg and Dr. Jianming Tong set up a joint venture laboratory to promote the development and application of A50 feed technology. In 2020, Happy Egg landed in Baisha, Hainan, China’s largest welfare farm. In November of the same year, a chicken coop project was launched in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. At present, Happy Egg is spreading the concept and practice of cage-free eggs to individuals, families, and businesses, who support the concept of farm animal welfare.

As a participant and advocate of Certified Humane® laying hens in China, Happy Egg also assumes responsibility educating local markets. In addition to the construction of the welfare farm, Happy Egg will also build a welfare farming museum to share the experience of interaction between farms and consumers. The goal is to popularize welfare farming to Chinese consumers and share relevant experiences among farmers to make Certified Humane® practices the mainstream farming method.

At present, Happy Eggs sells online in Jingdong self-run stores nationwide, and offline in the Beijing area, such as Hema Xiansheng, Ding Dong Mai Cai, Cuixiangguomei, guoduomei, Weifang Jia Le Jia chain supermarket and other grocery chain channels. Learn more about Happy Eggs by visiting http://www.kuailededan.com/

First Certified Humane® Dairy company in asia

Introducing Farm Fresh®, the first dairy company in Asia to be awarded the internationally recognized Certified Humane® certification. As the owner and operator of four dairy farms in Malaysia, Farm Fresh® was drawn to the Certified Humane® Program because Certified Humane® standards are closely in-line with their own commitment to animal welfare and sustainability.

Farm Fresh® focuses on the health and well-being of their cows

“We spare no efforts to ensure that they have an amazing experience living with us,” says Managing Director, Loi Tuan Ee. Cows are fed a nutritious diet primarily composed of fresh grasses harvested at peak ripeness. To maintain sustainable land-use practices, soil is fertilized with the farm’s own organic compost and irrigated with wastewater. “We invested in world-class infrastructure for milking, housing, and cooling our cows” says Loi Tuan Ee. “Since heat stress is common in the region, we focus on sufficient ventilation as well as soakers for effective evaporative cooling.”

“We want to ensure that animals under our care are always healthy and happy.”

In Malaysia’s tropical environment, heat stress is a regular concern for farmers. Farm Fresh® raises Australian Friesian Sahiwal cattle, a breed developed in Australia that is especially suited to hot and humid climates. “Our Certified Humane® husbandry practices allow us to raise cows that are more resilient and comfortable in the heat and humidity,” says Azmi Zainal, Chief Operating Officer. “Effective herd health management is our priority and we believe that prevention is the best cure,” adds Group Senior Farm Manager, Jacob Mathan. Not only does Farm Fresh® carry out routine screenings and prevention strategies, all farms operate a pedicure unit to pamper and care for cows’ hooves. “We want to ensure that animals under our care are always healthy and happy.”

For more information, please visit www.farmfresh.com.my

Gemperle Family Farms is family owned and operated and has been farming eggs since 1950. It all began with Ernie Gemperle and his wife Annemarie emigrating from Switzerland and starting their first egg farm in the Central Valley of California. They began with 6000 hens and an egg retail store behind their home. Ernie diligently cared for the hens and delivered eggs to retail customers and Annemarie hand cleaned and sold eggs from their home-based retail store while at the same time caring for her family flock of seven children.

Gemperle Family Farms is now one of the leading producers of Certified Humane®, organic eggs in Northern California. The second generation of family members, along with a talented team of employees, lead the organization while the third generation family members are starting to learn the nuts and bolts of the business as well.

Since the 1990’s, Gemperle Family Farms has been converting barns to aviary style cage free production where hens are free to perch, socialize, dust bathe and nest. Today, the farm proudly produces Certified Humane® brown and white eggs, organic eggs, and Omega-3 specialty eggs.

Gemperle family values encompass strong stewardship, caring for the environment, their hens, their customers, and community. These values are the core of their farming philosophy. All of the hen houses are surrounded by sustainably farmed almond orchards. Their egg farming practices include conservation of water, energy, land, and resources. Most Gemperle Family Farms eggs are sold within a 100 miles radius of the farm.

Mike Gemperle, VP of Farming Operations, states, “Our land, air and water belong to future generations, and this philosophy is at the heart of each decision we make. This same stewardship philosophy has directed us towards Certified Humane® with some of the highest animal welfare standards in the industry. That is important to us and our customers.”

Learn more about Gemperle Family Farms at : www.gemperle.com

Welcome to the, “quiet side,” of the Teton Mountains, home to Winter Winds Farm, a Certified Humane® producer of Artisan Goat Cheese and Cold-pressed Goat Milk Soap. Nestled in southern end of the Teton Valley lies Victor, Idaho, namesake of a famous postal carrier who would deliver mail over the Teton Pass to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“We met on the Washington, DC Ultimate Frisbee circuit through mutual friends,” writes Jessica Konrath, partner and junior cheesemaker at Winter Winds Farm. “Always planning to move out West to be closer to Mark’s family, we were excited to discover the opportunity to purchase Winter Winds Farm.”

A native Idahoan, Mark Farmer, Chief Farming Officer of Winter Winds Farm, spent over a decade working in Washington, DC. Before meeting Jessica, Mark writes that, “he never would have thought that he would move back to Idaho to raise goats and make cheese, but her passion for goats and love of cheese is infectious.”

Together with Senior Cheese Maker Lacey McNeff, Winter Winds Farm proudly producers Certified Humane® goat milk products, available locally in markets, stores, and restaurants.

In addition to artisan products produced year- round, Winter Winds Farm also offers seasonal tours, event space, and encourages visitors to take part in a unique hircine experience: Goat Snuggle Sessions. As Winter Winds Farm writes, “Why Snuggle Sessions you ask? Goats are very social and curious animals. When they aren’t running, jumping, bucking, and playing with each other they love to stay warm in cuddle piles or in the arms and laps of visitors. Snuggle sessions are an excellent way to help socialize the kids and teach them that people are awesome.”

For more information about products, tours and events, or to book your Goat Snuggle Session, visit the farm at WinterWindsFarm.com.

To view photos of Goat Snuggle Sessions, follow Winter Winds Farm on Instagram and Facebook.

With a commitment to sustainable farming, the humane treatment of animals, and support for small family farms, Utopihen Farms enters the market with their Certified Humane® Pasture Raised Eggs. Chickens (and ducks) are considered partners in their farming venture and Utopihen Farms urges consumers to ask themselves to imagine what the world would be like if all hens and people worked together taking small steps to add up to big change.

An Innovative Approach to Working With Family Farms

Utopihen Farms help their farmers create thriving businesses where each farmer owns their own farm and hens. This model supports entrepreneurial farming, where farmers make their own business decisions and growing their flocks in the way they desire, while also meeting Utopihen’s requirements for Certified Humane® Pasture Raised, USDA Organic, and non-GMO. By offering support and handling the packaging and selling to retailers, Utopihen Farms takes an expensive and time-consuming aspect of hen farming off the shoulders of small family farms, and means farmers can focus on what’s most important to them — caring for their hens and eggs.

More Than a Brand – a Movement

At Utopihen Farms the future is bright. Not because they see it through rose-colored glasses, but because they work on making it so. And they know you do too. Your desire to care for the earth and every being on it is why Utopihen Farms is committed to Certified Humane® Pasture Raised and why their vision for the future goes even further. Utopihen Farms wants you to know that they are on a very real journey to create a better world through all types of initiatives designed to activate positive change.

To learn more about Utopihen Farms journey, visit www.utopihenfarms.com

First Certified Humane® beef company in Latin America

Ingleby Farms is the first Certified Humane® beef company in Latin America. The Certified Humane® logo appears on its exported beef products and on products consumed locally in Uruguay, where seven farms with 60 employees are responsible for 17,000 head of cattle, raised open-range, without confinement. Uruguay differs from most other countries in Latin America, in that it has no mountains and very little natural forest. Over 80% of Uruguay’s land area can be used for agriculture and the temperate climate and natural grasslands lend themselves to livestock production.

Since its founding in 1998, Ingleby Farms’ vision of being world-leading sustainable farmers has continuously driven the development of farms producing sound, healthy food on thriving and living farms. Ingleby Farms work hard to grow crops and rear livestock, while actively promoting biodiversity, fertile soils, animal welfare, and greener energy sources.

All livestock are open-range and grass-fed on pastures and natural grasslands and Ingleby Farms raises Black Aberdeen Angus cattle for beef production. Black Aberdeen Angus is a hardy breed, easy to handle, and produces a premium quality meat product. Grass-fed beef comes from cattle raised only on grass or other forage. These cattle spend all their lives outside where they graze on pasture and natural grasslands. In Uruguay, Ingleby Farms’ grass-fed beef production has achieved certifications guaranteeing that their cattle are raised open-range, free of antibiotic and hormones, and have full traceability throughout their lives.

For more information, visit Ingleby Farms at https://inglebyfarms.com/farms/uruguay

Happy Hens Free Range Eggs began on two rural properties located in Trichy, India, a region known for temperate climate, clean air, and excellent water quality. A cooperative of family farmers in the surrounding area work as suppliers for Happy Hens. These local farmers, carefully selected, must provide an environment similar to that of the original farm and the farmers must be passionate about and committed to hen welfare. Happy Hens raise four varieties of indigenous breeds, chosen because they are best suited for backyard poultry. Hens instinctively love the free-range life, foraging for insects, worms and greens, all of which make for a rich diet. They spend their days wandering across green pastures or scratching under the canopy of trees.

One of the indigenous breed is the Kadaknath, popular because of its adaptability to the environment. The bird has a black plumage with a greenish iridescence, black kegs, claws, beak, comb and wattle. The meat and bones of this breed are dark as well.

Birds do not have their beaks trimmed nor their wings clipped. They enjoy a minimum of 45 sqft per bird of range, which means every hen has plenty of space to roam. Happy Hens adopted a method of rotating birds through pastures so they have constant access to greens. Comfortable, clean nesting boxes are provided for hens which in-turn allows them to lay eggs and brood in privacy and security.

Hens are voracious eaters and spend their days foraging for nutritious greens, seeds and bugs. Happy Hen’s pastures have a variety of naturally growing greens and seasonal plants and legumes to enrich the protein content and carotenoid in the hens’ diet. In addition, hens are fed grains, fresh greens, 100% organic herbs, and supplements formulated to meet specific needs. Their diets are free of non-therapeutic antibiotics, free of hormones, and free of synthetic growth promoters.

For more information, visit Happy Hens at https://www.thehappyhensfarm.com/