When we talk about real food, we’re usually bragging about the real ingredients that go into our grass-fed jerky. But our commitment to real food goes beyond the kitchen. It goes all the way back to the ranches where we source our beef.
With Earth Day around the corner, we thought it would be the perfect time to brag on our partners and friends at Richards Grassfed Beef, an American Grass-Fed Association-certified farm and leader in regenerative agriculture.
How Richards Grassfed does things differently
You may already know about the benefits of grass-fed beef and why it’s better for the planet, but the ranchers at Richards Grassfed take things even further with true regenerative agriculture. When we learned what they’re all about, we knew we had to be a part of it too. Their practices make it possible to produce sustainable beef with a low carbon footprint, all while giving back to the earth.
They’re hardcore about soil health
A lot of different factors go into Richards ranching practices, but one of the biggest is how they care for the soil on their pastures. Strategic planting of cover crops and other plants keep soil way healthier than it is in a monoculture of just grass. Their grazing and pasture rotation strategies mean their cattle actually help the soil and plants, rather than harming them. By avoiding overgrazing and encouraging just the right amount of cow patties and trampling in a specific area, they increase the health of the soil, allowing healthier plants to grow and capture more carbon from the atmosphere.
They’re caring for an entire ecosystem, not just a ranch
When we think of raising cattle, we don’t think about all the other organisms that are involved in that process – from the plants they graze, to the birds that hang out in the pastures, to the dung beetles in the cow poop. When this biodiversity is respected and protected (like it is at Richards), it means a better life for the cows and a more sustainable, eco-friendly way of raising beef. For example, those dung beetles help distribute nitrogen back into the soil, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and helping soil retain more water.
They’re dramatically reducing their carbon footprint
Healthier soil means healthier plants, and healthier plants can take more carbon out of the atmosphere and sequester it into the soil. Need more details? Watch Carrie Richards of Richards Grassfed Beef explain it beautifully as she hangs out with Country Archer cofounders Eugene and Susan Kang.
Partnering with ranches like Richards Grassfed lets us do our favorite thing: craft real food to craft a better world. By supporting regenerative agriculture and sustainable food, we can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, chemical runoff, pesticide, and herbicide use, all while increasing biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. That’s why Earth Day or any day, our jerky is made with 100% grass-fed and finished beef*. Because whether it’s for our health or the planet’s, real food matters.
*When we can’t source everything from Richards Grassfed, we source 100% grass-fed and finished, pasture-raised beef from Australia, which has a commitment to have their meat & livestock industry carbon neutral by 2030.