Mike Callicrate discusses supporting a better food system and family farms. Over the past few decades, about half a million ranchers have gone out of business due to economic hardships. Meanwhile, a small minority of large agribusinesses earn the majority of profits in the food industry. Callicrate proposes alternative models like Ranch Foods Direct that allow producers to slaughter and sell animals locally, cutting costs and improving animal welfare. This supports rural economies and connects consumers more directly to local farms.

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Supporting A Better Food System…
What we eat is an important choice
Country Vet Producer Meeting
Bendigo, Australia - May 22nd, 2013
By Mike Callicrate
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

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“Agriculture is a business, not a way of life!”
- Teaching of land-grant institutions from around forty years ago to present
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

3. Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen, All Rights Reserved
Read a sample chapter and order the book at www.greatranchesofthewest.com – 800-363-5336
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4. Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen, All Rights Reserved
Read a sample chapter and order the book at www.greatranchesofthewest.com – 800-363-5336
The National Security issue
no one is talking about!
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5. Barry Lynn's Cornered is...
"A manifesto for our time."
--Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal
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6. Eric Schlosser, author of the best seller Fast
Food Nation, has an apt description of the
industry.
Over the last twenty years, about half a
million ranchers sold off their cattle and quit
the business. Many of the nation’s remaining
eight hundred thousand ranchers are fairing
poorly. They’re taking second jobs. They’re
selling cattle at break-even prices or at a loss.
The ranchers who are faring the worst run
three to four hundred head of cattle, manage
the ranch themselves, and live solely off the
proceeds… Ranchers currently face a host of
economic problems: rising land prices,
stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle,
increased shipments of live cattle from Canada
and Mexico, development pressures.
6"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

7. Grocery Manufactures Association
There is money in the food business…
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8. N7100C – Cargill
N199HF – Hormel Foods
N97SJ – J.M. Smucker
N1897S – J.M. Smucker
N135FT – Albertson’s
N46E – Hunt
N604CL – Hershey
N654CM – Crossmark Corp.
N457H – Bank of America
N606RP – Nestle Purina Pet Care Co.
N102CX – Clorox
N545CS – Wells Fargo
N604MU – Dean Mfg. Group
8"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

9. Trucks in St. Francis, KS
Sept. 6, 2009
Old Calnon place, So. of St. Francis
Winter day on Webster St.
Meanwhile, back on the farm…
9"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

10. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com
St. Francis, Kansas - May 2013
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11. America: Becoming a Land Without Farmers
Evaggelos Vallianatos, September 10, 2012
“The plutocratic remaking of America has a parallel in
the countryside. In rural America less than 3 percent
of farmers make more than 63 percent of the money,
including government subsidies.
“The results of this emerging feudal economy are
everywhere. Large areas of the United States are
becoming impoverished farm towns with abandoned
farmhouses and deserted land. More and more of the
countryside has been devoted to massive factory
farms and plantations.”
11"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

12. “You should be suing
Walmart [instead of
IBP], they are the
problem. They tell us
what they will pay and
we have no choice but
to pay you less.”
- John Tyson, 2002
12"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

13. Emptiness: A picture of big meat packer
retaliation – Why cattle feeders won’t speak out
against meat packer abuses…
Callicrate Cattle Co., 1999 13"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

14. Average return on equity before tax (ROE)
Retail grocery: ROE = 21% (last 6 years)
Meat packing: ROE = 17% (last 6 years)
All Farming & ranching: ROE = NEGATIVE 0.54%
(last 13 years)
Packers--for those with sales > $500k - Before tax ROE, 2002-2009: 17.38% - source: http://www.bizminer.com/industries/Meat-
packing-plants-2011/
Retail grocery--food marketing institute book - http://www.fmi.org - 2003-2009 average: before tax ROE = 20.75%
Cattle--for the farm typology "cattle" meaning primarily cattle operations in USDA/ERS annual surveys -
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/ARMS/
14"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

15. Farmers and Ranchers
Eaters
BIG FOOD
Exploiting Producers and Consumers
15"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

16. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com 16
"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men
who will deal likewise with their fellow men."
- St. Francis of Assisi, Roman Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans Order

17. For a person to be a serf in a more humane hog
factory is not the answer for man, pig or eater.
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Family farmers want to be good stewards, but they
need the income that fair, open and competitive
markets provide. They deserve a fair share of the
consumer food dollar.
Pigs at Callicrate Cattle Co.

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Family farmers care
FOR their livestock
Richard and David Nameth, Greenhorn Acres, Fowler, CO
Patrick Hamilton, Venetucci Farm,
Colorado Springs, CO
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

19. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com 19
Animal Husbandry has become Animal Science
“Agriculture is a business, not a way of life.”
Spring, 2012 – Remnant of a bygone past

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We domesticated farm animals,
we owe them good care.
“I raise hogs. I don’t produce pork.”
- Joe Maxwell, Missouri family hog farmer

21. Their grazing helps our dehydrating
planet retain moisture in the earth,
contributing to global water supplies.
Vandana Shiva – Winner of Monsanto’s “Bullshit” award
21Bred heifers at Callicrate Cattle Co.
37%
Supporting a restorative solar economy!
Grass Beef Manure Grass

22. “Our cow dung is worth more
than your Wall Street stocks.”
-Vandana Shiva speaking to Hillary Clinton in India
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Jacek Popiel’s garden in
Colorado Springs, fertilized
with Callicrate Cattle manure

23. Farmers and Ranchers
Eaters
THE RANCH FOODS DIRECT SOLUTION
BIG FOOD
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24. 24"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

25. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com 25

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A better, more direct route for producers, and consumers wanting
to know where their food comes from…

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Refrigerated trailer transports carcasses
from mobile unit to cut plant
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

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Slaughtering animals where they are raised means:
- More humane treatment
- Less stress means better quality meat
- 37% less weight transported to market
- Slaughter waste is composted into valuable fertilizer
- Increased rural employment
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

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Carcasses from mobile unit are hung for
dry aging or cut into primals and boxed.
"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

30. 30"What we support prospers, what we feed
grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

31. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com 31

32. "What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com 32
Owners, chefs and staff from Fuel Café, Root Down
and Linger restaurants visit Callicrate Cattle Co.
May 6, 2013

33. Your local family farm pantry is filled with…
Got a farmer? We’ll GROW your food!
Greenhorn Acres
• Love
• Good health
• Great taste
• Family meals
• Community
• Good stewardship
• Good husbandry
“Eating local means more for the local economy. A dollar spent
locally generates twice as much income for the local economy.
When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the
community at every transaction.”
- Marcy Nameth, Arkansas Valley Organic Growers
33"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com

34. Proposed Colorado Springs Public Market - Creating
a new community space for eaters, growers, family
farmers, ranchers and local businesses, separate
and safe from Big Food and Wall Street.
34"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com