Thoughts on Permission

The more we've gotten into farming, the more surprised I've been by how much of it requires permission.

Permission to sell.
Permission to process.
Permission to package and label.
And heaven forbid if I want to sell you a ready-to-bake meatloaf!

It’s not that I don’t care about food safety, because I absolutely do. Feeding another family is a responsibility I don’t take lightly. But the red tape has gotten out of control, in my opinion.

I buy fresh eggs, whole chickens, and raw dairy milk from our Mennonite neighbors. The raw milk has to be labeled “Pet Food.” Same with the chickens unless they conform their operation to the standards the government has laid out.

“Standards” doesn’t sound so bad. Standards raise the bar, right?

Did you know commercially processed chicken is run through a chlorine bath, and some is enhanced with a salt-water solution before it’s packaged?
Yet, Joel Salatin has shared testing from his own farm showing his open-air processed chickens had fewer bacteria than what you can buy in the grocery store.

So which is the better Standard?

We’ve also seen food recalls tied to large commercial operations. A single failure in a centralized system can affect consumers across the country.
The standards didn’t stop the outbreak.
Sure, they recalled the product. Their name recognition took a hit. But corporations can rebrand, and it won’t make headlines.

A small farm can’t do that. If I sell someone bad beef, I don’t lose a quarterly earnings report. I lose your trust. I lose your business. I lose my reputation.
My accountability isn’t to a government agency. It’s to you.

At what point do regulations designed for industrial agriculture remove opportunities for the small farm?

What I struggle with is the assumption that a farm with a handful of cattle should operate under essentially the same regulatory framework as a company processing thousands of animals.

I don’t want a commercial beef operation.

I want to know every cow by name. I want to know the families buying our beef. I want to deliver a box of steaks to your front porch and shake your hand.
To do that legally, the small farm could spend tens of thousands of dollars. Not because the beef is unsafe. Or my handling of it is unsafe. Not because you asked for those requirements. But because that’s the system.

I understand why many of these regulations exist. When food is produced by the truckload and shipped all over the country, oversight matters. Consumers deserve safe food. But I don’t believe the small farm should be forced into the same mold - a dedicated commercial building with washable walls, commercial sinks, a mop sink, restroom requirements, inspections, paperwork, licensing, and all the infrastructure that comes with operating like a grocery store.

One-size-fits-all regulations don’t account for relationships built on transparency and direct accountability. I believe adults should be free to make informed decisions about the food they buy and the people they buy it from.

If you want to buy beef from a national grocery chain, you should absolutely have that option.

If you want to buy beef directly from a farmer you've met, walked the pasture with, and watched raise every animal, I think you should have that option too.

At Knee Deep Farms, we're never going to ask you to trust us because of a government label.

We're going to ask you to trust us because you've watched us build fences, welcome calves into the world, care for our cows, and tell you the truth, even when it's not the easiest story to tell.

I think that's a pretty good standard.

Stay knee-deep in what matters,

Jen