How Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op Is Building a Producer-to-Consumer Market
Bright sunlight belonging to a late-May morning works its way through the trees outside Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op. Usually, this light graces shoppers and lunchtime regulars as they enter and leave the store, but today, in addition to the spring bustle, there is a small crowd waiting patiently to board a bus. A friendly woman greets people as they arrive, offering cold drinks and handing out tote bags with “Not My First Ranch Tour” printed in large letters. The irony of this statement is that this is the first producer tour the Co-op has organized for its members since 2006.
“So glad you wanted to come to this,” the woman says, welcoming a new couple. “What’s your name? I’ll get you checked in.” This is Stevie Thieme, the Co-op’s marketing manager, and today she’s taking Co-op members to B Bar Ranch in Big Timber.
“When I started my job, I decided to conduct a member survey … and one of the big takeaways was that members wanted to see where their food was coming from,” she says. “So we decided to bring these [tours] back.”
The door to the bus slides open and young families and older couples clamber in to find their seats. It’s a crowd of 18 people whose chorus of conversation fills the bus with sound and general good feeling. The driver jokes with Thieme and some of the others until everyone gets settled, and then the journey to B Bar Ranch begins.
The tours didn’t look very different 20 years ago. They were part of the Co-op’s community-building efforts, a core tenet of the business. So when Thieme saw that members wanted the chance to meet their local veggie and animal protein producers, she decided to reinstate the tours.
Another Co-op staff member joining for this ranch visit is Ethan Yourd, the meat and seafood manager. Yourd, a man with a clear passion for his job, works as a kind of detective for the Co-op. He vets ranches and other vendors to ensure that the quality of their products is up to Co-op standards.
“If we’re picking up a new vendor, I’ll look into what I call the ‘triangle,’” he says. His investigation triangle is a sort of sustainable sleuthing tool, comprising three main questions: “Is what they’re selling locally or regionally sourced? Does it have a certification on it, like non-GMO or organic? Is the product sustainably and responsibly raised?” he says, his body gently jostling back and forth as the bus takes long, winding turns through Bozeman Pass.
“There’s a lot of greenwashing these days,” Yourd adds. To find the answers to these questions, he scours potential vendors, reviewing information online and conducting a site visit, inspecting and verifying that their products are up to Co-op-snuff. This is how, after visiting multiple times, Yourd ended up growing a relationship with the production team at B Bar Ranch.
“Our food system in the U.S. would look a lot different if more people cared about where their food comes from.” —Ethan Yourd, Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op
Taking a turn off the highway in Big Timber, the bus kicks up dust as it rolls down a long, unpaved road. Unyielding skies meet the dwindling whitecaps of the Crazy Mountains, and as the ranch comes into view the surroundings become reminiscent of some classic, high-noon Western painting. Hissing to a stop, the vehicle’s door swings open to the hot dirt surrounding the first ranch building. Mihail Kennedy, a thoughtful, kind-looking man who clearly spends most of his time outside, welcomes the newcomers as he fires up the smoker for lunch. On the menu for today’s lunch: classic B Bar burgers and hot dogs with a side of potato chips, served on a paper plate.
Kennedy is the beef production manager for B Bar Ranch and is today’s grill master and tour guide. With an extensive background in environmental science, habitat restoration, and ecology, as well as experience working in restaurants, Kennedy manages the cattle with the well-being of both the land and the animals in mind. That’s why he has a policy of low-stress stockmanship with the cattle and intentional reciprocity with the land.
“Every pound of beef that leaves the ranch is a pound of nutrition for the soil that’s leaving the ranch,” Kennedy says, almost pointedly flipping marbled burgers on the grill. “My goal is to close that cycle.” What he’s referring to is the natural process of decomposition and nutrient cycling.
When an animal dies and is left in the landscape without human intervention, the decomposition process starts. Creatures and beings—animals, fungi, insects, bacteria—start to break down the dead matter, transferring nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) into the ground, directly aiding new vegetation and feeding the existing plants. So when the animals leave the ranch to feed families, they don’t feed the ranch’s soil. Kennedy, understanding the importance of this part of the cycle for the health of the land, created a composting program on the ranch.
“We compost all of the slaughter waste: everything that’s not used—skulls, bones, guts, hooves,” he says. “We take it and compost it all.” The ranch partners with Pioneer Meats, a livestock processor in Big Timber, and takes the leftovers from all of the cattle that go through their system.
In total, the ranch’s composting program brings in 15–45 cubic yards of animal by-product every week, which is equivalent to one to three dump truck loads. “If we were only bringing in our own waste, it would account for 10–15 percent of that amount,” Kennedy says. After going through the composting process, which can take anywhere from six months to a year, the nutrient-rich matter is spread throughout the B Bar grasslands. New nutrients and bleached bits of bone sit scattered among the greenery.
“I’m a nutritionist, so what we put into our bodies is really important to me, and I wanted [my] kids to have a tangible experience with where their food comes from.” —Elena Evans, guest
After lunch, the group sets out on the tour. First, they observe the cattle that are “finishing” nearby. Kennedy explains finishing, or the time before an animal is ready to harvest, saying, “I know they’re ready when they look like a hippo from the front.” Then the group moves to the massive grazing pastures, compost site, and corrals—all with the backdrop of Crazy Mountain peaks and brilliant blue skies.
Clearly here to gain some understanding of where their meat comes from, the guests ask questions, listen intently, and laugh easily at Kennedy’s jokes. Children from one of the younger families lean over the fence at the corrals, extending fistfuls of picked grass as an offering to the enclosed cattle. Elena Evans, their mom, watches bemused.
“I was really excited to bring them here,” she says, smiling. “I’m a nutritionist, so what we put into our bodies is really important to me, and I wanted the kids to have a tangible experience with where their food comes from.”
This touchpoint is the very reason for bringing back these tours. Plus, the Co-op wants to showcase their process of product selection. B Bar meats meet all three of Yourd’s criteria: local, sustainable, and organic; their product is top of the line at the Co-op.
“People are trusting us as customers that, whether it’s pork or beef or chicken or fish, we’re doing our due diligence to ensure that it meets the standards of what people expect from the Co-op,” Yourd says.
While quality is a necessity, he says the grocery store wants to balance the price point too. “Our products are more expensive because they are value based,” he adds, explaining that the goal is to offer a reasonable price to the end consumer, pay the producer a price that supports a living wage and the added costs of running a sustainable cattle operation, and have enough margin to support Co-op costs like employee benefits and liveable wages.
“Our food system in the U.S. would look a lot different if more people cared about where their food comes from,” Yourd says. “That’s why I like my job; I get to see where our food comes from, and I feel like I’m helping quality products become more accessible to our community.”
Sleepy from the burgers, information, and ranch-style exposure to the unusually hot spring sun, the crowd loads back into the bus, much quieter than they were in the morning. Settling in for the drive back to town, tired bodies sink into the cushioned cloth seats, satisfied with the views, new knowledge, and a deeper relationship with their food.
The Co-op will continue offering free farm and ranch tours to members this spring and summer. For more information visit bozo.coop, look for Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op on social media, and sign up for the member e-newsletters.
