Snowball Effect

Sales Update –

This is the last full week to get your orders in for the April 4-5 delivery.

So, what do you do on a rainy Saturday afternoon? Visit Nature’s Gourmet Farm website and place your April 4-5 delivery orders.

Several customers have ordered their Half Beef Custom-Processed by paying the deposit. Reserve your beef now by clicking the link above.

Batch #2 baby chicks arrived Thursday. That means we are 4-weeks away from having Batch #1 available. Have you reserved your fresh chickens yet? Simply email me at sales@naturesgourmetfarm.com with how many you want per batch. We have about 50 left from this batch.

Snowball Effect: – you have all seen how a small snowball that begins rolling downhill from the top of a mountain and gathers speed, momentum, and size along the way. That is how I would describe what is happening in the Non-GMO marketplace. What started small has significantly gathered momentum and is quickly gaining strength as it plows down the mountainside.

Non-GMO Project Verified reports that Non-GMO products are the fastest dollar growth trend and now exceeds $16 billion annually. Additionally, 80% seek out Non-GMO products and 93% of Americans support labeling of GMOs. Just recently the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund reported that California has banned GMOs. Lastly, I have heard from a good source that 22 countries to date have banned the import of all items that contain GMOs – that would include beef, chicken, pork, corn, soybeans, canola, alfalfa, and etc.

Farm Activities – We’ve been very busy preparing Spring pastures, taking pigs to market, cleaning up from winter storms, etc. Last Wednesday I spoke at the MS Power Company Wellness Symposium in Gulfport. The focus this year is “Nutrition”. The objective is to reinforce the importance of good nutrition for one’s physical and mental health and encourage them to make healthier food choices. Many people today are connecting the dots between processed industrial foods and the health issues associated like obesity, Type II Diabetes, and autism.

Graze magazine recently visited our farm and completed an interview for an upcoming issue. Friday, the Petal Post visited and will plan a feature article for the Hattiesburg, Petal, and Laurel Post editions.

Next week I will share results of a “major” project we have been working on that will come about early April.

What a Difference Leadership and Focus on Small Farms Can Make! –

Most of you know I am really impressed with NC Ag. to include NC Choices in North Carolina. They are very proactive in educating farmers and consumers. They host annual workshops on all types of farm activities like raising eggs, broilers, cheese, beef, pork, etc. etc. Other workshops focus on meat markets and consumers. Recently, their Ag. Commissioner came out promoting “Eat NC Grassfed Beef”. Here is short analysis how NC agriculture compares to MS:

                                  MS                       NC                       Comment

2016 Ag. Value              $7.35b                  $85b                     NC 11.5 times greater

Square Miles                  48,434                  53,819                  NC is 11% larger

$ per Sq/Mile                 $151,753              $1,579,368           NC 10.4 times greater

Population                     2.99m                    10.04m                 NC 3.35 more

$ per Population            $2,458                  $8,173                  NC 3.3 Greater

Price ½ Pig                    $3.50/lb                $4.93/lb                NGF vs. NC price

Price ½ Beef                  $3.50/lb                $6.69/lb                NGF vs. NC price

My friend in NC also told me their Ag. Commissioner has a goal to be $100 billion by 2020!

I believe MS can and should be doing much better. How about you?