You’re Better Off Buying From Walmart.

               Whole Foods was in the news early this month because of a very well-formed case of hypocrisy. Whole Foods stopped carrying Lobster from Maine. The story was carried on the national news. Whole Foods received a considerable number of pats on the back. The Lobstermen were mad. The Animal Rights Activists were happy. Whole Foods said they were standing by their commitment. And most shoppers came away feeling like Whole Foods was the pinnacle of responsibility and sustainability.

Not everyone is blind to Whole Foods' greenwashing ways.

A customer came to our farm store last night. We inherited this customer from another Grassfed Beef outfit we had purchased. She came to the farm to meet us. She wanted to verify that we were real people. After a lengthy interview, where she tested our knowledge, she bought the last of our Spring ribeye. Apparently, we passed the test. It helps your authenticity when people get lost in a web of backroads trying to find your farm.

You might ask yourself, why the vetting process from this lady? The answer is Jeff Bezos is trying to be me. No, it's not the rich guy playing dress up in a cowboy hat… (he'll never replicate how we smell after working cows all day long.) Old Jeffery's game of dress-up happens in the freezer case at Whole Foods. Jeff Bezos is dressing up his meat, and Tonia knows it.

Whole Foods sells the same meat that you can buy at Walmart.

Anybody who knows anything about the cattle business can guess that Whole Foods is slave to the juggernaut that is the US beef industry. But it takes a fight on a Chinese social media app to bring it to light.

Just like old men gather in coffee shops in small towns, ranchers are taking over a corner of TikTok to discuss and argue about raising livestock. The exchanges can get heated, and there is very little strict agreement between them. The major difference is that your conversation on TikTok can be seen by millions, not just the waitress filling the coffee cups.

The most recent argument was dubbed the "Hay war." The Hay War pitted the hippy and cheapskate faction of ranching against the big producers and the willfully obstinate. Liz and I embody both the hippy and the cheapskate sides. The conversation came down to our side advocating for raising cattle by using less or maximizing the efficiency of resources, especially petroleum. The other side's refrain was that they would go broke if they didn't produce as many livestock as possible.

It was a rancher in this argument who snitched on Whole Foods. In explaining how his product was superior due to petroleum inputs, he posted that his cattle went to Whole Foods and a Company called "Prime Pursuits."

You must realize that this rancher isn't advocating that animals need food. He seems to have forgotten that cattle can eat stuff that grows from the ground. He is saying that the only way to do it is by burning diesel fuel. Liz insists that our cattle will not consume petroleum… but, as I said, she is kind of a hippy…

The major problem with this post is that Prime Pursuits has one major customer. That customer is Walmart. Here is a snapshot of their webpage titled "Our Teammates."

So, that is precisely why I ended up standing in my driveway as Liz and Tonia talked about white vs. black pepper. You could tell that they were happy to find each other. Tonia's happiness might have come with the right backroad. We, of course, are happy to find people who appreciate what we do. But, more than anything, we are happiest when people look through all of the marketing BS and come out to look at the farm.

We have been debating whether or not to open a farm store. It will add a layer of complexity to our lives. It will give us another thing to manage. It will mean that our guard dog will have to be locked up. We cannot see any other way to show our customers that we are real farmers trying to do the best for our community. We have decided:

The Grand Opening for our Farm Store is on December 23rd.

We'd love to have you.

-Chip & Liz

Post Script: How did Walmart, I mean Whole Foods, get into this situation? An Elder Statesman of the Regenerative movement explained it on the Joe Rogan Podcast. 

 Will Harris said, "They did allow Producers, mostly multinational corporations, to come in… and languish there."

The quote starts at approximately the 5:00-minute mark.

https://youtu.be/--4yKHWxjJ0