Two longtime friends and livestock industry veterans were on a pilgrimage to fish-camp when they sparked an idea: “What if we could disrupt the status quo, skip the giant meat packers, all the middlemen and bring the best beef directly to people’s homes?”Max Winders and Dr. Tom Peters look back on those “what-if” discussions and smile. In 2021, they and 17 Midwest cattle farming families launched BetterFed Beef, a company to bring their dream into realityFundamentally, BetterFed Beef is a vehicle to solve many seemingly intractable problems facing U.S. cattle producers, consumers, and the ongoing U.S. food stability/resiliency challenge. Consider:

“Every year it’s more difficult to make money in the cattle farming business,” says Ben Truesdell, the third-generation steward of Truesdell’s family farm near Sherburn, MN, and an investor-owner in BetterFed Beef.Truesdell continues, “No matter the quality, the care or the efficiency, we’re more and more unable to get a price that reflects the value of the cattle. You’d like to think that the better the cattle, the better the price, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”Truesdell’s brother, Andy adds, “We’re not greedy. We don’t want the consumer to pay high prices for our beef. But when you see the supermarket prices for beef and you see what we were paid, the gap is huge. Why can’t we get some margin – just a fraction?”The reason margins are so thin for cattle producers, Dr. Peters explains, is because the supply-price relationship has become decoupled. This has happened because the U.S. beef industry lacks competition in purchasing beef. Four giant beef processors dominate the U.S. and global markets and have no incentive to compete for cattle purchases.“Why bloody each other when there are plenty of cattle 

available to share, and plenty of cattle to import and label as ‘Product of USA’ in the supermarket?” Dr. Peters emphasizes.This oligopolistic sharing of the beef crop between four players results in low-to-no competition at the ranch or feedyard. This leaves producers with low prices for their cattle, regardless of consumer demand for beef.“Producers can’t afford to hold onto cattle for a better price,” Dr. Peters explains. “Once cattle are market-ready, each day costs money and drains profits further. It’s crazy, but cattle producers often only get one packer to bid on their cattle. They are subsequently told by the buyer that ‘they are fortunate.’”This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is approaching the last breath in a long struggle between cattle producers and packers.

A century ago in 1921, the Packers Stockyards Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, ostensibly to reduce the monopoly that the Big 4 packers had on the industry and resolve the ‘war on the packers’ that western stockmen launched in 1914.

Winders notes with some irony, “In 1914, the Big 4 controlled about 72% of the U.S. beef processing industry. Today, they control more than 84%. In 100 years, not much has changed; on what basis should we expect different going forward?”

Winders believes beef processing and marketing is ripe for disruption. The technology exists to communicate with almost every American consumer and build a virtual, yet meaningful relationship.“We can reliably connect consumers with our farm families,” he explains. “They can share their love of beef, their interest in BBQ, family, environment, day-to-day farming, animal care, and so on. The conversations are free to be had and engaged in once introductions are made.”BetterFed Beef is the connector – the hub for introducing beef-loving consumers with beef-loving farmers.A generation ago, the majority of Americans had some contact with farming animals, the farming ethos, and way of life. Today, nearly all Americans under age 30 have had no direct contact or experience on a farm, let alone a beef ranch.“Let’s change that,” says Winders. “We have the tech tools to do it. We have cattle-producing families who are smart, successful, and passionate about raising the best beef in the world. We have millions of Americans living in cities who are curious to learn more about their food.”“This awesome Midwest beef can be the conduit to open the communication and relationship. Just imagine that as friends gather, someone scans the QR code on the BetterFed Beef box and opens the webpage for the family that raised the beef. They can learn about the steer, its genetics, how it was raised and cared for. And they can communicate with the family farmers who raised it.”Now that’s connecting food with farmers, in real-time, and with complete transparency.

The city-farm virtual connection is already happening through BetterFed Beef. We’ve seen customers located in places as far away as Seattle and San Francisco connect with the family that raised the beef that they grill and eat.“It’s very cool to make this connection possible and it means a lot to the cattle producing family to hear from a customer way out on the coast who is thankful for the awesome beef,” Winders says.Luke Gorecki, a cattle producer outside Taunton, MN, and investor-owner in BetterFed Beef, relates how his dad told him and his brother Adam, “If you want to get something done, roll up your sleeves and go do it. I think that’s what it comes down to for BetterFed Beef. We can always talk about what-if, but someone has to take the plunge and bring it into the world.”Gorecki is hopeful that the BetterFed Beef venture paves the way for his peers. “Other cattle producers can benefit from our pioneering, by watching and learning from our mistakes and build their own direct-to-consumer company.”Winders concludes, “Packers have a role to play through highly efficient processing of huge volumes of animals. But cattle producers can’t be collateral damage as a result. That’s why we’re taking back some control for these families through BetterFed Beef.”

BetterFed Beef partners with USDA inspected and certified locker plants across the Midwest. These family-owned businesses still practice whole-animal butchery through skills and knowledge handed down over generations. They take great pride in the legacy of butchering cattle in a time-honored way.The craft of whole-animal butchering has nearly been lost with the advent of huge packing plants that operate massive disassembly lines. Animals pass by workers at a constant speed and are progressively reduced (disassembled) into parts. This system is incredibly efficient, but it lacks the skill, the art and the satisfaction of butchering an entire carcass.Jeremy and Darcy Johnson own and operate Conger Meat Market in Conger, MN. They are proud of how they process cattle, and the important role their meat market plays for area residents and the local economy.“We cannot and don’t want to compete with the packers,” they say. “We are small and boutique. We can offer special cuts of beef, extended dry aging of beef, and the best beef, rather than whatever comes out of the box.”Part of the BetterFed Beef vision is to work with family-owned locker-processors, like the Johnsons, in small towns across the Midwest. This expands the virtuous footprint of local beef. Born, raised, cared for and processed in the Midwest by families, not giant corporations.

BetterFed Beef selects only the very best steers to be harvested under the Certified ONYA® brand, which represents our quality system to ensure the very best beef. It may surprise you to learn that younger cattle have more tender meat than older animals, and steers (males) are more tender than heifers (females). Certified ONYA represents health, marbling, gender (steers only), genetics, size, age, and a low-stress living environment.Certified ONYA also represents a 27-month commitment to get the perfect beef to the American consumer. Dr. Peters explains, “From the time the cow is inseminated with the best bull semen, then nine months of gestation, and then 18 months of growth, our steers are finally harvested. That’s a 27-month careful process. Each step of the way these cattle are cared for and groomed to be the cream of the crop. The absolute best beef you can buy.”