10 Reasons to Buy Authentic Organic Beef Photo courtesy of Ayrshire Farm

From flavor to nutrition, authentic organic beef is a completely different product from the industrial beef that dominates supermarket shelves and treats the environment like a never-ending roll of shrink wrap.

Authentic organic beef producers raising high-qualify beef deserve and depend on your support. You are what’s needed to complete the cycle that starts with the establishment of biodiverse plant communities and ends with a meal that supports environmental health and your community’s economy. Read on for the full spectrum of benefits offered by authentic organic beef farmers. Yes, the meat tastes better, but it also garners selling points in the category of public service. Authentic organic beef farms practice humane animal husbandry, build intimate relationships with their soil, steward the watershed, attract pollinators, and do not use synthetic agrichemicals—all on the gamble that eaters will support these practices with their food dollars.

1. Health and safety

Organic beef is free from antibiotics, growth hormones, and toxic pesticide residues found in the conventional industry. While the science is still evolving, mounting evidence suggests that exposure to even low levels of antibiotics, pesticides, and other drugs commonly used in non-organic livestock adversely impacts human health.

2. Animal welfare

Organic beef cattle must graze on pasture and be managed in conditions that accommodate their health and natural behavior. These requirements boost the animal welfare conditions of organic systems. Authentic organic producers go above and beyond the standards by emphasizing the social aspects of the herd, encouraging natural behaviors, and ensuring an appropriate diet

3. Environmental benefits

If you eat beef, authentic organic beef is the best choice for the environment! Authentic organic beef producers emphasize low-impact grazing which can increase soil health, climate resilience, and biodiversity. Organic beef is also produced without synthetic fertilizers—significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

4. GMO free

All organic products are free from GMOs. Organic cattle eat organic feed, also free from GMOs.

5. Ecosystem services

Management practices used by authentic beef producers support ecosystem services which provide many downstream benefits to nature and humans. Some of these benefits include habitat for pollinators, natural pest control, nutrient and water cycling, increased soil organic matter, and minimal levels of pollution and erosion

6. Community resilience

Buying beef from your local authentic organic producer supports regional food infrastructure and can help revitalize rural communities. Your support makes these fragile systems more resilient, ensuring communities have access to food in the face of crisis

7. Nutrition

Prioritizing quality over quantity is a boon to nutrition and flavor. Authentic organic beef boasts more beneficial fatty acids and essential nutrients with known health benefits. Due to seasonal differences and other factors such as diet and breed, high quality beef can vary in flavor, fat content, and nutrition.

8. Diversification

Many authentic organic beef producers raise beef on diversified farms, where the farmer thoughtfully incorporates a variety of crops or animals (or both) that will thrive together in their specific location. Often these authentic beef producers also grow their own feed. Supporting these producers bolsters a sustainable farming model that provides farm resilience in the face of extreme weather or other disasters. A system producing multiple products ensures that one income stream will survive even if all others fail.

9. They’re the real deal.

Authentic organic producers contend with a market saturated with imposters and greenwashing. Our collective support of sustainable livestock production threatens industrial monopolies that capitalize on confusion to dominate the marketplace and squash consumer choice.

10. Authentic organic farmers need you!

Buying authentic organic beef supports producers who invest time and money to create a value-added product. Your patronage enables these producers to continue providing these services.

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