Farm Families are the Heart of MFU Cooperatives
By Tricia Falter

Cooperatives are all about going back to the roots of sustainability, trust and caring. It's also about banding together to support the dream of keeping the farm in the family. What first grew out of necessity to feed the family now becomes a farther-reaching struggle to make a living on passion for cultivating the land and raising animals.

Passion for a way of life that was handed down through the generations has inspired two family farms to become involved in cooperatives developed by the Missouri Farmers Union Family Farm Opportunity Center. Gateway Beef Cooperative and Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative are two new generation cooperatives that offer farmers an alternative to sell their beef or pork.

"I finally have a competitive market, whereas before I could only sell to IBP," said Robbie Meyer, president and founding member of Gateway Beef Cooperative. Meyer feeds out his own cattle and has around 350 cows.

Gateway Beef Cooperative, located in Overland, Missouri, is the only cooperative in the nation that is a verified source of hormone-free Certified Angus Beef. This cooperative is filling a very specific niche market for up-scale restaurants who demand prime Certified Angus Beef. Through its intense marketing plan, the plant now performs kosher slaughter for New York City area sales and has also set up accounts with Japan.

According to Meyer, the quality of this beef is determined by good genetics, not implants. "Almost 70 percent of the cattle slaughtered at the plan have graded prime," he said. A 2003 USDA National Summary of Meats Graded report showed that only 3.3 percent of cattle slaughtered graded prime.

Even though the goal of these cooperatives is to secure better prices and cut out the middle man, family farm preservation tops the list of why these farmers invested so much time and money into the projects.

"We personally bought into the co-op for our children, Amy and Brock," said LouAnn Meyer, Robbie's wife. "We are going the extra step in providing for our children. If they want to live close to us, they now have a promising market for their cattle."

Amy Meyer, director of membership services for Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, and Brock Meyer, student at John Wood Community College, have show their purebred Angus cattle in local and statewide shows. Brock has 15 Angus cows.

"There were not many opportunities in production agriculture for me after I graduated from college," said Amy, who graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia. "This cooperative will give me a chance to maintain a cow herd and have more marketing opportunities."

The Meyer family also helped found the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative. Robbie got into raising Hampshire hogs at a young age and was determined to keep them on the farm. This cooperative has given him a chance to do that.

"Founding these co-ops is the sunshine on the horizon," said Robbie. "It gives hope to family farms and gives kids a chance to come home."

Fourth Generation Farm
In the past, farmers were told to get bigger, consolidate and specialize. If they couldn't do this, they were told they wouldn't survive. Most farmers around the Osage County area, though, thrived on diversification. Income from hogs, cattle, poultry and crops sustained their livelihood. When hog corporations moved into the state, prices fell and most farmers gave in and sold their hog operation.

But now, John Stegeman has an alternative. The Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative, which is based in Mountain View, Missouri, helped him diversify his fourth generation farm. Stegeman thought the idea of hormone-free, naturally raised hogs would provide a great marketing solution for area farmers. He even built a new building especially for this new endeavor.

"Raising hogs naturally requires more time and patience," said Stegeman, secretary and founding member of Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative. "You've got to use probiotics and eliminate the concrete. No large corporation will do that and with this cooperative we have found a niche market."

His hogs are part of a sustainable agriculture grant study that will help determine if probiotics, which are good bacteria needed to promote natural immunity and better digestion, keep animals healthy. The goal of the study is to prove that animals do not need to be fed antibiotics to stay healthy and increase weight gain.

"If you keep the internal system healthy, their natural immunity can fight back infections and they will grow normally," said Stegeman.

Just as Stegeman is raising his hogs with a solid proactive management plan, he is also providing a strong foundation for his children, Jody and Chris. Chris is a student at Fatima High School in Westphalia, Missouri, and is going to college after he graduates. He knows he can now come back to the farm instead of finding a job elsewhere. Jody Stuecken works for the state of Missouri but she helping to sell pork out of her garage.

Even John's father, Francis, who is 80, knows the personal value of keeping the farm in the family by being flexible enough to seek out different opportunities.

"I wouldn't know what to do without being able to go to the farm everyday," said Francis.

That sort of passion keeps driving MFU Family Farm Opportunity Center to develop more cooperatives throughout the state. Cooperatives will be the tie that binds us through the hard times. They will give us hope that the old way of life full of strong ethics and values can be passed on to the next generation. Even though each generation will tweak the technology it possesses, they will always remember the values learned on the farm.