The demand for local, 100% grass-fed beef is growing rapidly. Big Y Supermarkets, a local grocer with stores throughout New England, began selling the product almost a year ago.
Ridge Shinn, 69, grew up milking cows and formed an agricultural company that began selling beef a year ago. The operation has expanded to include sales to the 70-store Big Y supermarket chain, which touts itself as a local grocer with stores throughout New England.
The Big Y weekly flier this week features Big Picture Beef’s hamburg on sale at $5.99 per pound, and includes a photo of Shinn on the front page.
He is the CEO and founder of Hardwick-based Big Picture Beef, a consortium of about 50 Northeast farmers that eschews the feed-lot techniques that rely heavily on corn to fatten cattle.
Big Picture Beef and Shinn say “the demand for local, 100 percent grass-fed beef is growing rapidly.”
The company has been selling about 1,000 pounds per week of its ground beef to Big Y. With Memorial Day coming, and the attendant picnics and cookouts planned by many during the holiday weekend, the grocer is ordering five times that amount.
In an interview, Shinn said Big Y accounts for about 40 percent of Big Picture Beef sales. The food distributor Black River Produce, of Springfield, Vermont, represents about 30 percent, and River Valley Co-op in Northampton, about 20 percent, Shinn said.
Ridge Shinn, 69, grew up milking cows and formed an agricultural company that began selling beef a year ago. The operation has expanded to include sales to the 70-store Big Y supermarket chain, which touts itself as a local grocer with stores throughout New England.
The Big Y weekly flier this week features Big Picture Beef’s hamburg on sale at $5.99 per pound, and includes a photo of Shinn on the front page.
He is the CEO and founder of Hardwick-based Big Picture Beef, a consortium of about 50 Northeast farmers that eschews the feed-lot techniques that rely heavily on corn to fatten cattle.
Big Picture Beef and Shinn say “the demand for local, 100 percent grass-fed beef is growing rapidly.”
The company has been selling about 1,000 pounds per week of its ground beef to Big Y. With Memorial Day coming, and the attendant picnics and cookouts planned by many during the holiday weekend, the grocer is ordering five times that amount.
In an interview, Shinn said Big Y accounts for about 40 percent of Big Picture Beef sales. The food distributor Black River Produce, of Springfield, Vermont, represents about 30 percent, and River Valley Co-op in Northampton, about 20 percent, Shinn said.’
The original article can be found at masslive.com by Jim Russell.
