Something's Been Bothering Me

Josh Schwab

Big Food July 8, 2025

2-min read

I follow a lot of other small farms and regenerative/grass-fed/organic meat businesses on social media, emails, etc.

And something has been bothering me lately.

I’ve noticed an increasing pattern to the content I see.

So I took a quick spin through my emails to confirm my theory, and here is a short list of subject line topics from the last couple of weeks

Hidden Risk Inside Your Egg Yolk
A New Study that confirms Glyphosate Causes Cancer, Even at “Safe” Level
Meat Glue in grocery store beef
The only Grass Fed beef with no MRNA Jabs
And on and on 😱😱😱😱😱

Sheesh….

I’m not saying this to throw shade at these farms. I know and like a lot of these folks. Some of them might be reading this.

And I 100% get where they’re coming from.

The world is a mess. Our industrial food system is gross. Just telling the truth about our food system feels like fear mongering.

Humanity is going to look back on the era of chemical-first agriculture with horror (those of us that don’t already).

I don’t want to eat that crap, I don’t want you to eat it, and I have a product to sell that’s infinitely better and cleaner.

So it’s tempting to shout about it from the rooftops. I feel the impulse, it’s not like I’ve NEVER mentioned that grocery store beef has flaws.

But to harp on it every day? To make “other meat is scary” the main theme of every reel, email, or whatever? When folks in our industry have so much cool stuff to talk about (WE ARE LITERALLY COWBOYS)?

Just doesn’t feel right to me.

For a bunch of reasons….

First, banging on about meat glue might repulse a few people into placing their first order. But I don’t really care about your FIRST order.

We’re trying to be your farmers. Forever.

We’re the “give you a chest freezer with your first cow, so you fill it back up every year” guys. That’s a long game.

And that outcome feels way likelier if you get to know why OUR farm is awesome. Why OUR beef is amazing. And that you can trust us all the time.

Not just that other beef is bad and scary, and we’re here to scream about it every day.

Second, it’s not all true….

There are tons of real, legit things to be disturbed by in our food supply. Including several on that list up top.

But there’s also a lot of stuff that’s….let’s call it misleading.

Right now the best example is the rumor about MRNA vaccines in beef. And that’s what it is. A rumor.

There are no MRNA vaccines for beef cattle in the US. They just don’t exist right now. And they certainly aren’t mandated like the internet wants you to believe.

Again, I’m firmly in the “let’s not introduce a ton of pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals into our food system, when we could just do a better job of farming” camp.

But claiming purity from something that doesn’t exist, to scare people into buying your product, is bullshit.

Its not that hard to explain the real situation, and treat customers like adults. Usually they even respect you for it. Telling the truth builds trust! Wild stuff.

Whereas, grasping at a rumor to boost sales this month winds up hurting our industry’s credibility in the long run.

Third, I just don’t like making people feel like shit.

Food is expensive across the board. Our beef is definitely not a cheap option.

People are being squeezed everywhere, and doing the best they can to feed their families well, while dealing with inflation, tariffs, pandemic pricing that never ended, and random supply chain disruptions.

Why pile on?

Anyway, my rant's over, but that’s why we keep it to a minimum with the “be afraid, be very afraid” shtick.

I’d much rather you support us because…

We raise our animals and manage our land with love and respect
The Northeast is the best place to raise 100% Grass Fed Beef and ours is as good as it gets.
We have 110+ 5 star reviews
We are willing to bet on ourselves and give you a free chest freezer with your first half or whole beef share
We’re an actual small farm that you can call up anytime and talk to someone who cares and will tell you the truth

Any or all of those (really good) reasons are preferable to scaring you with stories about how the boogeyman lives in the beef at the grocery store.

After all, stress is bad for us too.

If that resonates with you. And you want to get your beef from a farm you can trust.

Here's how we can be your farmers...

Your Farmer,

Josh

Back to blog

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