Volume 27, No. 5 ‘by graziers, for graziers’ May 2020 ‘We could end up in a better place’ him, he knows it’s because those Farm marketers are seeing booming stores are selling cheaper. “I feel like we’ve lost some cus- business during the pandemic tomers through that,” Ralph says. “But we do feel the customers we By Martha Hoffman turned into something completely dif- have today are very committed.” ferent as restaurant and institutional He thinks they value knowing their The alternative markets for live- sales collapsed, and direct, local sales farmer and the Schlatters’ no-grain stock product sales are always shift- staged an astounding revival. methods. ing with the whims of the customer. Here are their stories. Yet sales growth had indeed While consumers continue to buy slowed. They were looking at having grassfed and organic dairy and meat to pursue some advertising, they’re products, big companies and big Schlatters’ direct getting their website updated, and stores have taken increasingly large they have been looking to expand shares of those sales. sales no longer their overall online presence. That trend turned on a dime over Ralph wants to sell the way they the past two months with the onset stagnating farm, and they’ve started doing that of the Covid-19 pandemic. Reports in their emails to customers. With re- from across the country indicate that Defiance, Ohio — Ralph and generative farming the hot topic now, concerns about the food distribution Sheila Schlatter (Graze, Decem- he has reviewed their two decades of After years of flat sales, Ralph Schlatter’s system have caused consumers to ber 2017) are in their 27th year of soil tests showing a two percent or direct sales business is booming. re-think their choices and return to direct-marketing grassfed meat, eggs, more increase in organic matter, and livestock products from the produc- herdshare milk and farmstead cheese. calculated how much carbon has been plateau in 2015 and suffering a slow ers they know and trust. Some new They mostly sell directly to custom- sequestered with their rotational graz- drop in sales after that. Ralph blames customers are ordering, too. ers at their on-farm retail store and ing management. through weekly deliveries to nearly the change on the entrance of big-box In this article, we profile three farm He shares that when managed cor- 200 customers in the Toledo area an stores into the grassfed/organic sec- marketers who have been featured rectly, pastured livestock can actually hour northeast of the farm. tors. over the years in the pages of Graze. be good for the environment, and What started as a project to learn For years they made fliers but did He says his customers will talk tells how the farm is supporting good how these people had adjusted to the no other advertising, and saw constant about shopping at Costco or Sam’s stewardship. While orders through the rise of corporate competitors instead growth in demand until reaching a Club and, while they don’t say it to first two months of 2020 hadn’t in- creased, customers said they appreci- ated knowing what the farm is doing. “I think they’re on board with this, Chinks in the armor probably for good,” Ralph says. Food system’s weaknesses show need for something better Covid-19 sales boost And then things changed overnight. By Allen R. Williams, Ph.D. it the earth, while the learned find among the consuming public. The Starting in mid-March, sales rocketed themselves beautifully equipped pandemic triggered rounds of panic upward by about 75% as new custom- The Covid-19 pandemic has cre- to deal with a world that no longer buying that quickly cleared gro- ers started buying, and current ones ated significant upheaval across the exists.” cery stores shelves of many items. bought more. world, and certainly right here in The agriculture and food sys- First toilet paper, then other paper For several years their beef bundles the U.S. tems we have put in place over the goods. Next to disappear were — assortments smaller than a quarter With the shelter-in-place orders, past six decades — the systems staple food items such as milk, — sold slowly. But in recent weeks restaurants closing to inside dining, that have made the industry so meat, eggs, vegetables (first frozen, they’ve been selling fast. and schools and universities shut- proud, the systems that appeared to and then fresh), canned goods and The store offers their farm’s milk, ting down in-person education, the function seamlessly — have been bread. chicken, turkey, eggs, beef, pork and impact on agriculture and the food shown to have glaring chinks in For the first time in many lamb along with selection of organic industries has been monumental. their armor. people’s lives there were serious products from other sources. A quote from philosopher Eric shortages of these food items on Traffic through the store has notice- Hoffer has really challenged me The chinks grocery store shelves across the ably increased. A few customers have during these stressful times: “In A number of weak links have called with orders and requested them times of change, learners will inher- been exposed, creating chaos continued on page 8 continued on page 2 Dealing OAD Sales Will we Managing Personal with calf rank are learn? indexes bloat feeding growth booming Pages 4-5 Page 6 Page 9 Page 12 Page 14 Page 18 Page 2 May 2020 Direct sales booming demand will look like going forward. Grill restaurants. continued from page 1 Are customers just stocking up, or “Those are virtually all to be delivered to their cars or left in have the Covid-19 disruptions awak- gone,” Greg reports. coolers for a no-contact transaction, ened people who will keep buying To keep products mov- but mostly it’s been business as usual local when it’s over? He thinks at ing, he’s had to be creative, with people coming into the store. least some are questioning where the converting from wholesale The herdshare program has been grassfed beef sold in the big stores to retail packaging and going strong, and Ralph feels it’s the is coming from, and thus valuing the sales in a matter of a few driver getting people into the store, integrity of the local farmer. weeks. Being smaller and where they see the grassfed meats. Ralph and Sheila wonder if they inefficient by conventional After years of keeping the herdshares need to start ramping up beef produc- wisdom has also meant low-key, Ralph says the regulatory tion as they go forward. the Gunthorp operation and legislative climate has gotten “How can we take advantage of the is nimble and flexible to better. The Schlatters have started interest now and hold that interest?” changes. advertising herdshares a bit more. Ralph asks. “There’s lots of things “It wasn’t easy, but we running through our minds. How can did it,” Greg says. “Big Beef vs. cheese we take advantage of the new custom- processors can’t do that Not everything is selling great these ers and get them on board?” because they have an auto- days. The farm’s raw milk cheese mated line that either does business has suffered, as 75-80% of the packaging the machine the product was sold wholesale to Gunthorp alters was set up for, or it doesn’t companies impacted by the Covid-19 do anything.” Greg Gunthorp intends to diversify his markets. shutdowns. focus on the fly In the switch to retail, Selling their cheese hadn’t been product demand has varied. easy anyway, as pricing was a prob- LaGrange, Indiana — Greg Chicken has been selling better than Some existing markets started lem. While the Schlatters have won Gunthorp (Graze, January 2015) has normal and turkey is doing well, but selling more of his products, includ- awards for their cheese, it still doesn’t been selling pasture-raised meats pork is variable and duck sales are ing the online specialty meats seller sell like the grassfed meats, and Ralph processed on the farm in his USDA- nonexistent. Crowd Cow. They were already han- is wondering if they should cut back inspected facility for the better part of Many of his products are now go- dling one-sixth of Greg’s turkeys, but on its production. 20 years. ing to direct-marketing friends who now they came asking to sell his pork, The extra milk that isn’t sold in Before the coronavirus threw a have seen sales spike by up to 400% and Greg agreed. herdshares or cheese goes to the pigs. wrench into the system, Greg was and need more meat to fulfill orders. Greg says he doesn’t feel quite “I think it makes excellent pork,” selling mostly to restaurants, char- “It’s just crazy the number of secure now, but he thinks he has bet- Ralph says. cuterie shops, universities, Disney orders they’re sending out,” Greg ter security than if he was selling to He doesn’t know for sure what World, and O’Hare Airport’s Frontera reports. commodity markets. There’s more Page 3 risk, but he has more control, and nies moving into niche agriculture. Thoughts for the future However, long-term growth poten- that’s vital. “It gets more and more difficult tial is much closer to home as well. Greg is confident that at least some to wholesale all of the time, because Farmer retailers have seen customers In times like these, Greg says of his foodservice and wholesale the big guys have fancy label prod- double orders, and half of their cus- it’s especially important to be able customers will be coming back when ucts that they can produce way, way tomers haven’t bought before, Greg to make and implement good busi- the pandemic is over, and there may cheaper than pasture-raised animals,” says.