A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. That's what Jason Freeman of the Farmer Direct Co-operative believes, so he wants you to know everything about the cow that made it from pasture to your plate: where it lived, what it ate, who raised it, and who killed it. His business is banking on the prospect that, given the right conditions, this knowledge will lead carnivores not straight to a vegan diet but to market, hungry for a sizzling steak.

Freeman, one of the founders of the six-year-old Regina-based co-op, works with farmers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to promote direct connections between consumers and farmers and, in the process, develop a transparent food chain. The 70-member group, made up of certified-organic grain and cattle farms that are family-owned and operated, has lately started a beef program: along with that tenderloin comes a code consumers can punch into a website to learn about the life and times of dinner.

Each cow's tale includes a portrait of the farm and the family that runs it, raising conditions and lifespan of the animals and, at the end of the line, details of the slaughterhouse. Freeman would like to add more details, including the breed of cattle, the kind of feed, even the farmers' phone numbers, so the curious-minded could call for more.

In this industrial age of anonymous food sources and food-borne illnesses such as BSE(bovine spongiform encephalopathy), the need for traceability is an issue. And while the rising demand for organic-certified foods reflects a common concern for safe and healthy food supplies, the systems for guaranteeing the organics label are proving faulty. Hence this latest trend for "locavores." As of this month, Fiesta Farms in Toronto is the first supermarket to stock foods marked with a bold "LFP" stamp. It means that the nonprofit grop Local Food Plus has certified the foods' sources as environmentally and socially responsible according to its standards.

Farmer Direct wants to go the extra mile. Don Bogen, owner of a certified-organic mixed farm in Consort, Alta., is the beef program's first member and poster boy. "When we put out a good product we like to let consumers know where it came from," he says.

Sebastian Cortez of the Vancouver shop Sebastian & Co Fine Organic Meats stocks beef from Bogen's farm. He pays $2.88 per pound shipped — a comparable price to larger suppliers' — and prefers this "more consistent source." Some buyers are interested in the story of Bogen's farm while others just come for the quality of the meat — hanging the cuts to age for 21 days, a practice held by the best butchers, renders a tender product.

It takes a strict set of criteria to become a member of Farmer Direct. The group's system of "eco-acres" aims to help protect wild habitats and promote the use of biodiesel in addition to other environmentally conscious practices. "We needed to go beyond organic certification," explains Freeman. "We audit production to make sure the farmer is following our standards." There is a trade-off for members. "We're saying to the farmer that if you follow these eco-practices, the market will provide you with a fair price.

Generally, fair-trade labels apply to coffee producers and other growers who work in very poor conditions in developing nations. But Farmer Direct, in addressing an ongoing income crisis in Canada for family-operated farms, implements a domestic fair-trade standard. That means most of the labour must be done by the owners. When labour is hired, they must have access to representation and collective bargaining. When it's time to bring the food to market, the price is determined through an open exchange between farmer and buyer through the co-op.

Biodynamic farming, whereby manure and other products are produced on the farm in a self-sustaining system that can help minimize disease factors and contamination, may be the next step at the co-operative. Yet despite all this, Farmer Direct is in the business of securing business for an industry that is highly polluting and destructive to the environment. A recent report from the UN noted 70 per cent of the world's agricultural land is used for raising livestock; these animals account for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. "We produce way too much meat in North America," says Freeman. "How do you incorporate that into an ethical standard?" It's not a rhetorical question. "We shouldn't be scoping out cheap meat," he replies. In fact, "we should eat less meat."

Print Article    Send to a Friend    Write a letter to the editor

Digg this Stumble It!   Post to del.icio.us Seed Newsvine   Share on Facebook Technorati links