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COVER STORIES: BACK TO THE LAND...STILL
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| Photo
by Earl Richardson |
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Anne Wilson,
J75
A rancher’s way of life
preserves a fragile ecosystem
Back to Back
to the Land...Still
Anne Browning Wilson, J75, and her husband manage Five Oaks Ranch, 2,500
acres of upland prairie pastures in the Kansas Flint Hills in the eastern part
of the state. Like “old-style cowboys,” they ride out during the
summer to keep track of nearly 1,000 head of cattle grazing on native virgin
tallgrass prairie—soil that has never been broken by a plow. The Wilsons
will tell you, however, that this seemingly perfect picture is framed by a deep
concern about a vanishing way of life.
Several years ago, they co-founded Tallgrass Beef, a ten-ranch, grass-fed beef
co-op in the Great Plains whose aim is to market low-fat, free-range beef to
natural and specialty markets. “Corporate agriculture and development were
swallowing up family operations,” recalls Wilson, “and we figured
a collective strategy could help struggling small-scale ranchers weather the
storm.”
Flavorful and tender, their source-identified beef was targeted to health-conscious
consumers; the product was free of growth hormones, and the cattle were never
fed antibiotics or animal byproducts. Even more unique was that fact that instead
of being confined and fattened on grain in feedlots, the animals spent their
lives roaming free on the open prairie eating their natural diet—the “salad
bar” of diverse native prairie plants, which also made the lean beef high
in healthful omega-3 fatty acids. Raising grass-fed beef, says Wilson, “is
kinder to the animals, a very healthy option for people, and good for the environment.”
Unfortunately, operational costs proved prohibitive and the co-op was forced
to close. The Wilsons now must sell their cattle in conventional markets, which
all lead to grain-feeding in traditional feedlots.
“It was extremely difficult for a small business to compete within the
arena of corporate concentration in the beef-processing and retail food industries,” says
Wilson. “We have gotten so far away from decentralized, local systems of
production and distribution of food. Our nation is terribly vulnerable. A disruption
could bring it to its knees in short order. This is quite an irony for a nation
with such rich agricultural resources as ours.” |
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