Maggie's Farm

The restaurants we go to claiming "farm to table" or "locally grown" or "free range" etc. will give the name of the producer they get the produce or meat from, sometimes with an address. My son sells what would constitute natural beef and his business has outpaced what he can come up with mainly due to difficulties getting animals processed without having a reservation many months, sometimes a year in advance. We are in an area of Illinois where livestock had all but disappeared but in the last few years small cow herds are showing up all over the place. The backyard chicken thing has exploded. Farm supply stores have chicks for every kind of poultry you can name year round whereas 15 years ago it was seasonal and strictly one breed of baby chicks, order in advance. A growing number of people want to know where their food comes from and want it fed to taste better as opposed to least cost rations. Add in the way retailers and Big Meat are gouging consumers at the meat counter and this is a trend that is only limited by the ability to get animals processed at a USDA inspected facility. Which is a major problem given the shortage of USDA inspectors.