Because People Need To Know

Never would I have thought MS Agriculture was so political. I thought our elected officials would all want what is best for MS Citizens and would want to support small farms. Right?

Well, that has not been my experience with Cindy Hyde-Smith and the agriculture department she led. Many of you know that for 2-years I have worked with Senators Hill and Hudson to change MS law to allow on-farm processing up to 20,000 chickens per year vs. the current 1,000 - and be able to sell them into retail. Currently, 40+ states allow up to 20,000 chickens per farm each year.

However, after SB2060 passed the Senate Ag Committee unanimously - Cindy Hyde-Smith called Senator Dean Kirby and told him to kill SB2060 - thus voting AGAINST Small Farms and MS Citizens and FOR large political donors like Sanderson Farms. So, who does she REALLY protect?

Sanderson Farms is a MS corporation and one of the top three largest chicken processors in the USA.
They opened their last plant in NC in 2017 with a weekly capacity of 1.25 million chickens. The total capacity for all 12-plants is 12.5 million chickens per WEEK. NC has a strong small farm presence with 1000+ direct marketing farms. This suggest Sanderson is not concerned about any impact small chicken producers would have on their business. Frankly, we both operate in different markets!

Back in MS, the few farms that I know who direct market chicken - 1-has quit and 3-are struggling. These are young families who have a dream and invested a lot of effort to raise healthy food. MS needs more of these young folks but, that want happen until roadblocks like Smith are removed and laws are changed. Based on my direct experience with Cindy Hyde-Smith, the only vote she deserves is a vote to go home!

Some positive news! You have read quotes I have used before from Wendell Berry. He recently turned 83, is a farmer and author with about 30 books published and who lives in KY. Recently, I watched a 1-hour show about Mr. Berry on Netflex - do a search for Wendell Berry and find the show titled "Look and See". It is a very good and well worth your time.

In the show they played a recording from 1974 by then Sec. of Ag Butz that he wanted to put PROFIT back into agriculture. Sec. Butz is also credited with our current industrial ag model. So, I went back into USDA data and found in 1974 the farmer's percentage of the retail food dollar was about 36%. In 2015 the farmer's percent was 15.6%. By the way, the farmers percentage has not been anywhere near 36% since Butz industrialized agriculture.

Customer Feedback-
We've tried Nature's Gourmet Farm's beef, eggs, pork, and sausages, they are all very tasty. The meats are tender and easy to cook. It's good to eat food that's directly from a farm. You can't get anything fresher. Thank you very much, Ben and Beth! ~A Tull

Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “As I see, the farmer standing in his field, is not isolated as simply a component of a production machine. He stands where lots of lines cross – cultural lines. The traditional farmer, that is the farmer who was first independent, who first fed himself off his farm and then fed other people, who farmed with his family and who passed the land on down to people who knew it and had the best reasons to take care of it... that farmer stood at the convergence of traditional values... our values.”. Wendell Berry

As always, thank you for supporting our regenerative, local farm.
Ben & Beth