How Far Did Your Pork Chop Travel?

A little search on the internet will tell you that the average meal on an American's plate has cumulatively traveled about 1500 miles. I've heard the average steak has traveled 1400 miles from birth to dinner plate. And that's just an average, so it goes without saying that some have an even longer journey.

That's a lot of traveling!

Consider the carbon footprint of that amount of transport. Think about the ramifications of even one part of the supply chain being interrupted on such a large scale.

You don't have to imagine, because you lived through it in 2020, didn't you?

Did you know that Smithfield pork, the largest producer of pork in the world, controls 23% of the U.S. pork market? And did you know that although the company was founded in Virginia, it is now a Chinese-owned business?

Not saying buying from a Chinese-owned company is inherently wrong by any means...but other than cheap food due to the massive scale and maybe even government subsidies, what other benefits are there to a conglomeration like this?

By contrast, we made a connection a couple years ago with another farmer about an hour from us. Since we don't keep mama pigs year-round to have babies, we need to buy feeder pigs from another farmer who does. This man was ready to retire from raising hogs last year, but because he so enjoyed seeing how his pigs got to live on our farm he found yet another farmer who would still supply him with enough piglets that he could provide them for us!

Now, how much different of a situation is it when you know your pork chop came from pigs in a pasture not far from you compared to one raised probably in confinement, owned by someone on the other side of the world? 

What is it worth to know you could actually go visit the pigs out in the pasture on our farm each summer and see them living their best pig lives?

How great does it feel to have local access to pastured pork breakfast sausage that is much more insulated from supply chain interruptions (whether real or manufactured!)? Not to mention it tastes so much better than the grocery store options!

Is it more expensive than most grocery store pork? Almost assuredly. But your purchase of locally grown food is not just about higher quality food on your plate (definitely ranks pretty high on the benefit list though ;) ). You're doing so much more!

You're investing in other families in your community (in the case of our pork, that's 4 families--ours, Paul and Jennifer who now head up pig care at Farm Connection, plus these two other farmers!). You're also infusing life into your entire local economy. And you're allowing a network of producers near you to successfully protect you and your neighbors from experiencing food shortages.

And that, my friend, is really rather heroic!

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Right now we are offering a new bulk pastured pork option. Doug named it the Pig-licious Bundle on account of how tasty it is :) ! If your freezer is getting a little sparse, jump on this opportunity to get a variety of our pork cuts and save some $$ in the process!